Communication control device, radio communication device, communication control method, and radio communication method

ABSTRACT

There is provided a control device including a communication unit configured to perform communication with a radio communication device of a radio communication system in which communication is possible using a plurality of access schemes including at least one of the access schemes of a multiple access scheme that uses orthogonal resources and a multiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonal resources, and a control unit configured to perform allocation of resources relating to the access schemes to be used by the radio communication device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of National Stage application Ser.No. 15/519,787 filed Apr. 17, 2017, which is a National Stage Entry ofInternational Patent Application No. PCT/JP2015/005488 filed Oct. 30,2015, which claims the benefit of Japanese Priority Patent ApplicationJP 2014-250978 filed Dec. 11, 2014, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a communication control device, aradio communication device, a communication control method, and a radiocommunication method.

BACKGROUND ART

The radio communication environment has been facing the problem ofradically increasing data traffic in recent years. For this reason, asone of radio access technologies (RATs) of the fifth mobilecommunication scheme (5G), a multiplexed/multiple access scheme thatuses superposition coding (SPC) has gained attention. Thus, SPC andtechnologies based on the scheme have been developed.

For example, PTL 1 and PTL 2 mentioned below disclose a technology inwhich, when a digital modulation symbol that is a complex number ismultiplexed using a method corresponding to SPC, amplitude or electricpower which can enable the multiplexed symbol to be appropriatelydemodulated or decoded in a reception device is set.

In addition, PTL 3 mentioned below discloses a technology relating tohighly improving a successive interference canceller (SIC) on areception device side for receiving signals that are multiplexed usingSPC or non-orthogonally multiplexed using another method.

CITATION LIST Patent Literature

PTL 1: JP 2003-78419A

PTL 2: JP 2003-229835A

PTL 3: JP 2013-247513A

SUMMARY Technical Problem

In the field of the present technology, however, further improvement inperformance has been demanded. Thus, the present disclosure proposes anovel and improved communication control device, radio communicationdevice, communication control method, and radio communication methodwhich can realize communication in which orthogonal resources andnon-orthogonal resources are selectively used.

Solution to Problem

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provideda communication control device including: a communication unitconfigured to perform communication with a radio communication device ofa radio communication system in which communication is possible using aplurality of access schemes including at least one of the access schemesof a multiple access scheme that uses orthogonal resources and amultiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonal resources; and a controlunit configured to perform allocation of resources relating to theaccess schemes to be used by the radio communication device.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provideda radio communication device including: a radio communication unitconfigured to perform radio communication using one or more accessschemes of at least either a multiple access scheme that uses orthogonalresources or a multiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonalresources; and a control unit configured to control the radiocommunication unit to perform radio communication using allocatedresources for the access schemes to be used by the radio communicationunit.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provideda communication control method including: performing communication witha radio communication device of a radio communication system in whichcommunication is possible using a plurality of access schemes includingat least one of the access schemes of a multiple access scheme that usesorthogonal resources and a multiple access scheme that usesnon-orthogonal resources; and performing allocation of resourcesrelating to the access schemes to be used by the radio communicationdevice with a processor.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provideda radio communication method including: performing radio communicationusing one or more access schemes of at least either a multiple accessscheme that uses orthogonal resources or a multiple access scheme thatuses non-orthogonal resources; and controlling, with a processor, theradio communication to be performed using allocated resources for theaccess schemes to be used during the radio communication.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to one or more of the present disclosure described above,communication in which orthogonal resources and non-orthogonal resourcesare selectively used can be realized. Note that the effects describedabove are not necessarily limited, and along with or instead of theeffects, any effect that is desired to be introduced in the presentspecification or other effects that can be expected from the presentspecification may be exhibited.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing an example of allocation of resourcesin an orthogonal multiple access scheme.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for describing an example of allocation of resourcesin a non-orthogonal multiple access scheme.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for describing an example of a configuration of acommunication system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for describing a logical interface and a physicalinterface.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing an example of another configurationof the communication system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a logicalconfiguration of a communication control device according to theembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a logicalconfiguration of a base station according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a logicalconfiguration of a terminal device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an allocationprocess of an access setting executed in the communication controldevice according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of anallocation process executed in the communication system according to theembodiment.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of atransmission device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of atransmission device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of atransmission device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of atransmission device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an allocationprocess of an access setting executed by the communication controldevice according to the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an FDMemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice according to the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an SDMAemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice according to the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an SPCemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice according to the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an DMAemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice according to the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an RSMAemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice according to the embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an SCMAemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice according to the embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of anaccess setting information notification process in the communicationsystem according to the embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of anaccess setting information notification process in the communicationsystem according to the embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an accesssetting information reception process executed by the terminal deviceaccording to the embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an accesssetting information reception process executed by the terminal deviceaccording to the embodiment.

FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram for describing an access settinginformation notification process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an accesssetting information reception process executed by the terminal deviceaccording to the embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a diagram for describing an example of an arrangement of acontrol channel and a data channel according to the embodiment.

FIG. 29 is a diagram for describing an example of an arrangement of acontrol channel and a data channel according to the embodiment.

FIG. 30 is a diagram for describing an example of an arrangement of acontrol channel and a data channel according to the embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a diagram for describing an example of an arrangement of acontrol channel and a data channel according to the embodiment.

FIG. 32 is a diagram for describing an example of an arrangement of acontrol channel and a data channel according to the embodiment.

FIG. 33 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of acapability information notification process executed in thecommunication system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 34 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system according to theembodiment.

FIG. 35 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system according to theembodiment.

FIG. 36 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system according to theembodiment.

FIG. 37 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system according to theembodiment.

FIG. 38 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system according to theembodiment.

FIG. 39 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system according to theembodiment.

FIG. 40 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a capabilityinformation confirmation process executed in the communication controldevice according to the embodiment.

FIG. 41 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an admissioncontrol process executed in the base station according to theembodiment.

FIG. 42 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematicconfiguration of a server.

FIG. 43 is a block diagram illustrating a first example of a schematicconfiguration of an eNB.

FIG. 44 is a block diagram illustrating a second example of theschematic configuration of the eNB.

FIG. 45 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematicconfiguration of a smartphone.

FIG. 46 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematicconfiguration of a car navigation device.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the appended drawings. Note that,in this specification and the appended drawings, structural elementsthat have substantially the same function and structure are denoted withthe same reference numerals, and repeated explanation of thesestructural elements is omitted.

Also, in this specification and the appended drawings, elements havingsubstantially the same function and structure may in some cases bedistinguished by different letters appended to the same sign. Forexample, multiple elements having substantially the same function andstructure are distinguished as base stations 200A, 200B, 200C, and so onas appropriate. On the other hand, when not particularly distinguishingeach of multiple elements having substantially the same function andstructure, only the same sign will be given. For example, the basestations 200A, 200B, 200C will be simply designated as the base station200 when not being particularly distinguished.

Note that description will be provided in the following order.

1. Introduction

2. Configuration examples

2.1. Communication system

2.2. Communication control device

2.3. Base station

2.4. Terminal device

3. Details of functions

3.1. Overview of an access setting allocation process

3.2. Transmitting function and receiving function

3.3. Details of an allocation process of an access setting

3.4. Notification of access setting information

3.5. Channel configuration

3.6. Capability information

4. Application examples

5. Conclusion

1. Introduction

First, a technology relating to SPC will be described with reference toFIGS. 1 and 2. FIGS. 1 and 2 are illustrative diagrams for describingthe technology relating to SPC.

As one of 5G radio access technologies (RATs), a non-orthogonal multipleaccess scheme has drawn attention as a successor to Long Term Evolution(LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).

In orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) orsingle-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) employed in LTE, resources are allocatednot to overlap among user terminals within a cell. Note that resourcesin OFDMA or SC-FDMA refer to frequency resources or time resources forradio communication, and include various types such as subcarriers,subframes, resource blocks, and resource elements. Such a RAT in whichresources are allocated not to overlap is also called an orthogonalmultiple access scheme.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for describing an example of allocation of resourcesin the orthogonal multiple access scheme. In FIG. 1, the horizontal axisrepresents frequencies, and resources allocated to users are depicted indifferent colors according to the users. As illustrated in FIG. 1, inthe orthogonal multiple access scheme, different resource blocks (RBs)can be allocated to the users in, for example, the frequency direction.

On the other hand, in the non-orthogonal multiple access scheme, atleast an overlapping part of resources is allocated to user terminalswithin a cell. When the non-orthogonal multiple access scheme isemployed, signals that are transmitted and received by user terminalswithin a cell can interfere with each other in a radio space. Areception side, however, can acquire information of each user through apredetermined decoding process. Thus, it is known theoretically that thenon-orthogonal multiple access scheme can achieve a higher communicationcapacity (or cell communication capacity) than the orthogonal multipleaccess scheme when proper allocation of resources is executed.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for describing an example of allocation of resourcesin the non-orthogonal multiple access scheme. In FIG. 2, the horizontalaxis represents frequencies, and resources allocated to users aredepicted in different colors according to the users. As illustrated inFIG. 2, in the non-orthogonal multiple access scheme, resource blocks,for example, overlapping in the frequency direction can be allocated tousers. Note that such allocation is performed in, for example, codedivision multiple access (CDMA) or interleave-division multiple access(IDMA).

As one RAT classified as the non-orthogonal multiple access scheme, amultiplexed/multiple access using SPC is exemplified. In SPC, atransmission side causes at least a part of frequency resources or timeresources to overlap while allocating different electric power levels tosignals to be multiplexed. A reception side receives and decodes asignal multiplexed on the same frequency resources or time resourcesusing a mechanism such as an SIC or iterative detection.

Here, when efficient scheduling of a plurality of users is attemptedusing SPC, a constraint is assumed to be imposed on the relation of pathloss between a base station and the plurality of users and thepositional relation between the base station and the plurality of users,particularly in downlink. For example, when multiplexing respectivesignals of two users using SPC is considered, in order to efficientlyoperate an SIC on a reception device side, electric power of therespective two symbols multiplexed using SPC is supposed to be setaccording to the difference in their path loss. To maintain thissetting, it is necessary to perform SPC multiplexing by intentionallyapplying a power difference to the users who have substantially the samepath loss. In such a case, there is concern of unfairness between theusers. Thus, in order to overcome such unfairness, more complicatedscheduling is desirable.

In addition, when SPC and another non-orthogonal multiplexing scheme areemployed, it is desirable to exchange information of non-orthogonalmultiplexing scheme or scheduling that has been used betweencommunication devices. Here, when a general method of physicallydisposing control channels and data channels, i.e., a method ofdisposing the channels by causing them to be orthogonal to each other inthe frequency and time directions, is employed, there is a possibilityof the channels having deteriorating efficiency. In addition, in orderto simultaneously accommodate a device that is compatible with thenon-orthogonal multiplexing scheme and a device that is not (so-calledlegacy device), it is desirable to provide a control channel that can beproperly decoded to the legacy device.

In addition, in a general cellular system, selecting a multiplexingscheme to be used from a plurality of multiplexing schemes and switchingone are not considered at the time of handover. On the other hand, whenhandover is executed in a system operated while selecting a multiplexingscheme to be used from a plurality of non-orthogonal multiplexingschemes, information of an orthogonal multiplexing scheme ornon-orthogonal multiplexing scheme that is being employed or can beemployed by a handover destination is used. Thus, it is desirable toprovide the procedure of handover using such information in order toimprove efficiency of the system that employs the plurality ofnon-orthogonal multiplexing schemes.

Therefore, a communication system according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure has been created focusing on the above-describedcircumstances. The communication system according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure can realize communication in which orthogonalresources and non-orthogonal resources can be selectively used. Morespecifically, the communication system according to the embodiment cancommunicate using a plurality of access schemes including at least oneof the access schemes of a multiple access scheme that uses orthogonalresources and a multiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonalresources. In addition, the communication system according to theembodiment can properly perform allocation of an access scheme andresources that each radio communication device uses. Details of theembodiment will be described below.

2. Configuration Examples

<2.1. Communication System>

First, an overall configuration of the communication system according tothe embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for describing an example of the configuration ofthe communication system according to the embodiment. As illustrated inFIG. 3, the communication system 1 includes an application server 10, aservice platform 11, a network gateway 12, a device 13, an IP network14, and a core network 15.

The application server 10 is a server which provides a service. Theservice platform 11 is a server which provides an environment that isthe foundation of the service provided by the application server 10. Thenetwork gateway 12 is a device with a function of intermediatingdifferent networks. The device 13 is a radio communication device. Thenetwork gateway 12 is connected to the service platform 11 via the IPnetwork 14. In addition, the device 13 is connected to the networkgateway 12 via the core network 15.

The device 13 can include a terminal device, a base station, a networkmanager, or the like. The terminal device is, for example, a userterminal. The base station is, for example, a NodeB, an eNB, an accesspoint, or the like. The network manager has a function of managing anetwork. Although the terminal device, the base station, and the networkmanager are expressed in the same layer as the device 13 in FIG. 3, theymay belong to different layers. When they belong to different layers, itis desirable that the layer to which the base station and the networkmanager belong be closer to the core network 15 than the layer to whichthe terminal device belongs.

The terminal device that belongs to the device 13 uses the serviceprovided by the application server 10 through a network. A logicalsession relating to use of the service can be understood ascommunication between the terminal device and the application server 10denoted by reference numeral 21. On the other hand, physical sessionsrelating to the user of the service can be understood as communicationperformed with the variety of devices as denoted by reference numerals22, 23, and 24. For example, the terminal device accesses theapplication server 10 via the base station, the core network 15, thenetwork gateway 12, the IP network 14, and the service platform 11. Notethat the application server 10 may form the service platform 11 togetherwith a plurality of other servers, for example, cloud systems. In thiscase, the service platform 11 may have a gateway function of connectingto the IP network 14. In addition, the service platform 11, the IPnetwork 14, and the core network 15 can further include a router, aswitch, a virtualization device which virtualizes a network such as arouter or a switch, a virtualization control device which controlsvirtualization, a cable, and the like as physical devices.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for describing a logical interface and a physicalinterface. As illustrated in FIG. 4, base stations 13A and 13B areconnected to each other through a logical interface 25. This interfaceis not limited to being logically connected. For example, the basestations 13A and 13B can be physically connected to each other through aphysical interface 26 which includes a plurality of entities such as thecore network 15 as illustrated in FIG. 4. Note that the interfacesbetween the base stations denoted by reference numerals 25 and 26 arealso referred to as X2 interfaces.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing an example of another configurationof the communication system according to the embodiment. In FIG. 5, anetwork configuration in Machine Type Communications (MTC) that isanother example of a network configuration is illustrated. Note that thedashed lines in the drawing represent a control plane and the solidlines represent a user plane. In addition, the entities and paths in thedrawing (control plane and user plane) are respectively logical entitiesand logical paths.

The network configuration illustrated in FIG. 5 is broadly divided intoa home public land mobile network (HPLMN) and a visited public landmobile network (VPLMN), showing a configuration in which roaming ofdifferent communication service providers is used. The HPLMN is anetwork of the communication service provider to which a targetcommunication device (for example, UE 31) originally belongs, and theVPLMN is a network of a roaming destination of the communication device.A public IP network may relay the HPLMN and the VPLMN. During roaming,data of the control plane is in particular relayed from the VPLMN toentities within the HPLMN as illustrated in FIG. 5. This is because itis necessary for control information of the target UE 31 to be managedon the communication service provider in the home ground. On the otherhand, data of the user plane is relayed from the gateway on the VPLMNside to the gateway of the HPLMN side, and then relayed and transferredto an application server 41. Note that the data of the user plane may gothrough the public IP network or an entity of the service platform. Innormal circumstances in which roaming does not occur, there is nointerface between the HPLMN and the VPLMN.

Each of the entities included in the network configuration shown in FIG.5 will be described in order below.

The user equipment (UE) 31 is an example of a terminal device 300, inwhich an “MTC UE Application” that is an application for MTC isinstalled. The UE 31 accesses an MME 33, an S-GW 34, an SGSN 36, and anMSC 37 via a radio access network (RAN) 32. In the present embodiment,the RAN 32, a plurality of access schemes including at least one of theaccess schemes of a multiple access scheme using orthogonal resourcesand a multiple access scheme using non-orthogonal resources can be used.A base station 200 resides in, for example, the RAN 32, and is connectedto the UE 31.

The Mobility Management Entity (MME) 33 is an entity that mainly dealswith the control plane, and manages mobility and security of the UE 31.When the UE 31 moves to an area of handover or the like using mobility,the MME 33 manages information of the movement, and exchanges theinformation with a superordinate entity of the core network or an entityof another operator.

The Serving Gateway (S-GW) 34 mainly deals with data of the user plane(IP data). The S-GW 34 is an entity that interconnects the RAN 32 andthe core network, and is in charge of routing of data while coping withmobility of each UE.

A Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW) 35 mainly deals with data of theuser plane (IP data). The P-GW 35 is an entity that interconnects thecore network and an external network. In addition, the P-GW 35 alsoperforms policy control, charge control, and management of IP addressesof the core network and a RAN to be provided. The S-GW 34 and the P-GW35 are logically different entities, but may be the same physically. Thegateway GPRS support node (GGSN) 35 is an entity that interconnects thecore network and an external network, like the P-GW 35.

The serving GPRS support node (SGSN) 36 is an entity that functions asboth the MME 33 and the S-GW 34. The SGSN 36 is an entity residingaccording to the type of network (general packet radio services (GPRS))or the type of RAN 32 (WCDMA (a registered trademark)/GMS)). Because itfunctions as both the MME 33 and the S-GW 34, the SGSN 36 deals withboth the control plane and the user plane.

The mobile switching centre (MSC) 37 is an entity that is mainly used ona network of GSM (a registered trademark) and WCDMA, and is in charge ofdelivering circuit switch (CS) services such as voice calls, shortmessage services (SMS), and the like. In order to support the CSservices, the MSC 37 has a function of controlling installation andrelease of end-to-end connection, mobility of the UE 31, handover duringcalling, and the like.

A Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 38 is a subscriber information databaserelating to contractors and users (for example, the UE 31) with which anoperator has entered into a contract. The HSS 38 manages information,for example, authentication information, current residence, and thelike. When the UE 31 performs roaming, being present in a roamingdestination is also managed by the HSS 38.

MTC-Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) 39 is an entitywhich provides authentication, authorization, and accounting functions.The MTC-AAA 39 deals with functions and control with respect to eachsubscriber or UE 31 using the subscriber information retained in the HSS38.

A Charging Data Function (CDF) 40 and a Charging Gateway Function (CGF)40 are entities for transmitting and receiving billing data with respectto a billing processing domain (Billing Center/Billing Domain) of theoperator.

The application server 41 is a server for providing services. A ServicesCapability Server (SCS) 42 is an entity for properly selecting a servicethat the application server 41 can provide. For example, a case inwhich, before the application server 41 provides a certain service, itis necessary for a target UE 31 to monitor or sense the service isassumed. In this case, when the SCS 42 request a trigger thereof fromthe UE 31, the application server 41 can start providing a servicesmoothly. The SCS 42 is not necessary for all application servers 41.There may be, for example, an application server 41A that is accompaniedwith the SCS 42 and an application server 41B that is not, asillustrated in FIG. 5. Note that the application server 41A that isaccompanied with the SCS 42 is also called an indirect model, and theapplication server 41B that is not accompanied with the SCS 42 is alsocalled a direct model. In addition, a network configuration whichincludes both of them is also called a hybrid model.

An MTC-Interworking Function (IWF) 43 is an entity which is connected toone or more SCSs 42. The MTC-IWF 43 has a function of determining orauthorizing whether an application (service) provided via the SCS 42 canbe provided on a network of a corresponding operator. In addition, theMTC-IWF also plays roles of receiving a request for a trigger for a usertransferred from the SCS 42 and replying to the SCS 42 with the resultof the trigger.

A Short Message Entity (SME) 44 is an entity which performs transmissionor reception of short messages.

A Short Message Service Switching Centre (SMS-SC) 45, an SMS-GatewayMobile Switching Centre (SMS-GMSC) 45, and an SMS-Interworking MobileSwitching Centre (SMS-IWMSC) 45 are entities which control exchange ofshort messages on the HPLMN. The SMS-SC 45, SMS-GMSC 45, and SMS-IWMSC45 are in charge of notifying relevant entities of a setting when thereis no user who transmits or receives a short message, or success oftransmission or reception of a short message.

An IP Short Message Gateway (IP-SM-GW) 46 is an entity that has afunction of taking in SMSs of an external IP Network (a service, aservice provider/or the like), in addition to SMSs provided by anoperator for improving convenience of SMSs.

The overall configuration of the communication system 1 according to thepresent embodiment has been described above. Next, basic configurationexamples of the respective devices that the communication system 1includes will be described.

<2.2 Communication Control Device>

The communication system 1 according to the present embodiment includesa communication control device which controls communication performedwithin the communication system 1 coordinately. The communicationcontrol device can be realized as, for example, the application server10, the service platform 11, or the network manager 16. Thecommunication control device may be realized as a logical entity, or maybe integrally formed with a base station.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a logicalconfiguration of a communication control device 100 according to thepresent embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the communication controldevice 100 includes a communication unit 110, a storage unit 120, and acontrol unit 130.

(1) Communication Unit 110

The communication unit 110 is a communication interface whichintermediates communication of the communication control device 100 withanother device. The communication unit 110 may be a wired communicationinterface or a wireless communication interface. The communication unit110 according to the present embodiment communicates with a communicableradio communication device of the communication system 1 using aplurality of access schemes including at least one of the access schemesof a multiple access scheme that uses orthogonal resources and amultiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonal resources. As the radiocommunication device with which the communication unit 110 communicates,for example, one or more terminal devices which belong to the device 13and one or more base stations are exemplified.

In the present embodiment, orthogonal resources or non-orthogonalresources are used for multiplexing difference users or signals. Asorthogonal resources, for example, time (a subframe, a slot, a radioframe, and the like), a frequency (a component carrier, a subcarrier, asubchannel, a resource block, and the like), a code (a spread code, arandomized code, and the like), and the like are exemplified. Inaddition, as non-orthogonal resources, a space (a spatial stream, aspatial layer, a spatial code book, an antenna, an antenna port, and thelike), electric power (power and the like), an interleaver (a bitinterleaver, a symbol interleaver, and the like), a data rate, a code (asparse code, a spread codebook, and the like), and the like areexemplified. Although such resources are referred to simply as resourcesin the present specification, they may be referred to as other variousnames. For example, the resources may be referred to as radio accessresources (RAR), radio resources (RR), access resources (AR), radioaccess axes (RAA), radio access components (RAC), or radio access blocks(RAB).

The communication unit 110 directly or indirectly communicates with thebase station 200 and the terminal device 300. For example, thecommunication unit 110 may transmit access setting information to bedescribed below to the base station 200 or the terminal device 300. Thecommunication unit 110 receives capability information from the basestation 200 or the terminal device 300. In addition, the communicationunit 110 may transfer the received capability information to anotherdevice such as another communication control device 100 or the like. Thecapability information is information indicating with which accessscheme each device is compatible or incompatible, and with whichresources each device is compatible or incompatible. That is to say, thecapability information includes information indicating compatibilitywith non-orthogonal resources. In addition, the capability informationincludes information indicating compatibility with orthogonal resources.

In addition, the communication unit 110 transmits information indicatinga result of allocation by the control unit 130 to be described below tothe base station 200 or the terminal device 300. The informationindicating a result of allocation by the control unit 130 includesinformation indicating at least any of allocated access scheme orresources. The information indicating the result of allocation is alsoreferred to as access setting information below.

(2) Storage Unit 120

The storage unit 120 stores a program and data for operating thecommunication control device 100 using a storage medium such as a harddisk or a semiconductor memory. The data stored by the storage unit 120can include, for example, capability information of each device withinthe communication system 1 (for example, the base station 200, theterminal device 300, and the like).

(3) Control Unit 130

The control unit 130 controls overall operations of the communicationcontrol device 100. The control unit 130 has a function of controllingcommunication performed within the communication system 1 coordinately.

For example, the control unit 130 has a function of allocating resourcesrelating to an access scheme that a radio communication device withinthe communication system 1 uses. Resources to be allocated by thecontrol unit 130 include at least one of a space area, an electric powerarea, an interleaver area, a data rate area, and a sparse code area. Inaddition, resources to be allocated may include a time area or afrequency area. For example, the control unit 130 first allocates anaccess scheme to be used by each radio communication device. Then, thecontrol unit 130 allocates a space area, an electric power area, aninterleaver area, a data rate area, or a sparse code area to be used inthe allocated access scheme to the radio communication device. Forexample, the control unit 130 performs allocation based on capabilityinformation of each device within the communication system 1. Inaddition, the control unit 130 may perform allocation further based onstatus information of the base station 200 within the communicationsystem 1. The status information is information indicating which accessscheme the base station 200 itself is currently using. A combination ofan access scheme and resources will also be referred to as an accesssetting and allocation of an access scheme and resources will also bereferred to as allocation of an access setting below. The control unit130 may allocate different access settings or may allocate a sharedaccess setting to one or more base stations 200 or one or more terminaldevices 300.

The control unit 130 can perform various processes using the capabilityinformation or the status information. For example, the control unit 130can use the capability information and the status information in theprocedure of handover or the procedure of admission control. Forexample, the control unit 130 may change an access setting to beallocated to the base station 200 or the terminal device 300 in theprocedure of handover or the procedure of admission control.

<2.3. Base Station>

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a logicalconfiguration of the base station 200 according to the presentembodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the base station 200 includes aradio communication unit 210, a network communication unit 220, astorage unit 230, and a control unit 240.

(1) Radio Communication Unit 210

The radio communication unit 210 is a communication interface whichintermediates communication of the base station 200 with another device.The radio communication unit 210 according to the present embodimentperforms radio communication with one or more terminal devices 300 thataccess the base station 200 using a plurality of access schemesincluding at least one of the access schemes of a multiple access schemethat uses orthogonal resources and a multiple access scheme that usesnon-orthogonal resources. For example, the radio communication unit 210performs radio communication with the terminal device 300 using anaccess setting allocated by the communication control device 100. Forexample, the radio communication unit 210 receives capabilityinformation from the terminal device 300. In addition, the radiocommunication unit 210 transmits access setting information receivedfrom the communication control device 100 using the networkcommunication unit 220 to the terminal device 300.

(2) Network Communication Unit 220

The network communication unit 220 is a communication interface forconnecting the base station 200 to the core network 15. The networkcommunication unit 220 may be a wired communication interface or awireless communication interface. The network communication unit 220transmits and receives data traffic and exchanges control messages toand from various control nodes on the core network 15. The networkcommunication unit 220 can communicate with another base station 200 orcommunication control device 100 within the communication system 1.

For example, the network communication unit 220 may transfer capabilityinformation received from the terminal device 300 using the radiocommunication unit 210 to another device such as another base station200 or communication control device 100. In addition, the networkcommunication unit 220 may transmit status information indicating whichaccess scheme the base station 200 itself is currently using to anotherbase station 200 or communication control device 100. In addition, thenetwork communication unit 220 receives access setting informationindicating an access setting allocated by the communication controldevice 100 from the communication control device 100.

(3) Storage Unit 230

The storage unit 230 stores a program and data for operating the basestation 200 using a storage medium such as a hard disk or asemiconductor memory. The data stored by the storage unit 230 caninclude access setting information and capability information or one ormore terminal devices 300 that accesses the base station 200.

(4) Control Unit 240

The control unit 240 controls overall operations of the base station200. The control unit 240 according to the present embodiment has afunction of controlling the radio communication unit 210 to performradio communication using resources allocated with regard to an accessscheme that the radio communication unit 210 uses. For example, thecontrol unit 240 sets the radio communication unit 210 to use the accessscheme allocated by the communication control device 100. Then, thecontrol unit 240 sets the radio communication unit 210 to perform radiocommunication using the space area, the electric power area, theinterleaver area, the data rate area, or the sparse code area allocatedby the communication control device 100 with respect to the accessscheme to be used by the radio communication unit 210.

The control unit 240 can perform various processes using capabilityinformation or status information. For example, the control unit 240 canuse capability information or status information in the procedure ofhandover or the procedure of admission control. For example, the controlunit 240 may apply a change in an access setting instructed by thecommunication control device 100 to the procedure of handover or theprocedure of admission control. At this time, the control unit 240 mayperform change possibility determination for determining whether toapply or reject the change of the instructed access setting. Inaddition, the control unit 240 may determine whether to approve orreject acceptance of handover of the terminal device 300 according tothe result of the change possibility determination on the accesssetting.

<2.4. Terminal Device>

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a logicalconfiguration of the terminal device 300 according to the presentembodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the terminal device 300 has aradio communication unit 310, a storage unit 320, and a control unit330.

(1) Radio Communication Unit 310

The radio communication unit 310 is a radio communication interfacewhich intermediates radio communication of the terminal device 300 withanother device. The radio communication unit 310 according to thepresent embodiment performs radio communication using one or more accessschemes of at least either a multiple access scheme that uses orthogonalresources or a multiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonalresources. For example, the radio communication unit 310 performs radiocommunication with the base station 200 using an access settingallocated by the communication control device 100. For example, theradio communication unit 310 transmits its capability information to thebase station 200.

(2) Storage Unit 320

The storage unit 320 stores a program and data for operating theterminal device 300 using a storage medium such as a hard disk or asemiconductor memory. The data stored by the storage unit 320 caninclude access setting information.

(3) Control Unit 330

The control unit 330 controls overall operations of the terminal device300. The control unit 330 according to the present embodiment has afunction of controlling the radio communication unit 310 to performradio communication using resources allocated with regard to an accessscheme that the radio communication unit 310 uses. For example, thecontrol unit 330 sets the radio communication unit 310 to use the accessscheme allocated by the communication control device 100. Then, thecontrol unit 330 sets the radio communication unit 310 to perform radiocommunication using the space area, the electric power area, theinterleaver area, the data rate area, or the sparse code area allocatedby the communication control device 100 with respect to the accessscheme to be used by the radio communication unit 310.

The basic configuration example of each of the devices included in thecommunication system 1 has been described above. Next, the functions ofthe devices will be described in detail.

3. Details of Functions

<3.1. Overview of an Access Setting Allocation Process>

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an allocationprocess of an access setting executed in the communication controldevice 100 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 9, first, the control unit 130 ascertains capabilityinformation of each of the devices included in the communication system1 in Step S102. For example, the communication unit 110 receivescapability information from one or more base stations 200 and one ormore terminal devices 300 included in the communication system 1. Then,the control unit 130 checks with which access scheme each device iscompatible or incompatible and with which resources each device iscompatible or incompatible with reference to capability information.

Next, in Step S104, the control unit 130 checks desired communicationquality. For example, the control unit 130 checks demanded or necessarycommunication quality of such as a throughput, a data rate, or an amountof delay. For this reason, the base station 200 or the terminal device300 transmits information indicating demanded communication quality tothe communication control device 100.

Next, in Step S106, the control unit 130 checks a state of acommunication path (radio propagation path). For example, the controlunit 130 may check a state of path loss, a state of fading between eachtransmission and reception antenna pairs in the configuration of aplurality of antennas relating to multi-input multi-output (MIMO), asignal-to-interference-plus-noise power ratio (SINR), or the like. Inaddition, the control unit 130 may check a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR),the number of spatial layers transferrable on a radio propagation pathbetween transmission and reception devices (which corresponds to therank of a MIMO channel matrix), a proper precoding matrix, a propermodulation and demodulation scheme/error-correction coding rate, and thelike.

Next, the control unit 130 decides an access route in Step S108.

Then, in Step S110, the control unit 130 performs allocation of anaccess setting. For example, the control unit 130 performs the accesssetting based on the processing result of the above-described Steps S102to S108. Note that the control unit 130 may allocate a shared accesssetting to one or more terminal devices 300 that access one or morecells formed by the base station 200. At this time, the control unit 130may also allocate an access setting shared by each cell, or allocate anaccess setting shared by each base station 200. In these cases, theterminal devices 300 within the cells or under the base stations 200 canuse the same access setting within the same cells or under the same basestations 200, or at least some of them can use the same access setting.In addition, the control unit 130 may allocate an access setting to eachterminal device 300. In this case, the control unit 130 can allocate aproper access setting to each terminal device 300. The cells or the basestations 200 perform scheduling or the like taking access settings usedby each terminal device 300 into consideration.

Next, in Step S112, the control unit 130 performs a resetting of anetwork. For example, the control unit 130 transmits access settinginformation indicating the allocation result of the above-described StepS110 to each of devices within the communication system 1. Accordingly,communication according to the access setting information is startedbetween the devices within the communication system 1.

Next, in Step S114, the control unit 130 determines whether or notcommunication of each device has ended. When it is determined that thecommunication continues (No in S114), the process returns to Step S104again, and the above-described processes are repeated. Theabove-described processes may be periodically repeated at apredetermined interval. Accordingly, the control unit 130 can allocateaccess settings again according to passage of time. On the other hand,when it is determined to have ended (Yes in Step S114), the processends.

Next, an operation processing example of the entire communication system1 corresponding to the allocation process of an access setting by thecommunication control device 100 shown in FIG. 9 will be described.

FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of anallocation process executed in the communication system 1 according tothe present embodiment. A terminal device 300A, a base station 200A, anetwork manager 16A, a network gateway 12A, a terminal device 300B, abase station 200B, a network manager 16B, a network gateway 12B, theservice platform 11, and the application server 10 are involved in thepresent sequence. Note that the terminal device 300A, the base station200A, the network manager 16A, the network gateway 12A, the terminaldevice 300B, the base station 200B, the network manager 16B, and thenetwork gateway 12B form a different network. In addition, the serviceplatform 11 functions as the communication control device 100 in thepresent sequence.

As shown in FIG. 10, first, the service platform 11 checks capabilityinformation in Step S202. For example, the service platform 11 transmitsa message requesting capability information to the terminal device 300A,the base station 200A, the terminal device 300B, and the base station200B to collect capability information of each of the devices. Note thatthe network gateways 12 and the network managers 16 physicallyintermediate the exchange of the information.

Next, in Step S204, the service platform 11 and the application server10 check desired communication quality. For example, the serviceplatform 11 inquires the desired communication quality of theapplication server 10.

Next, in Step S206, the service platform 11 checks a state of acommunication path. For example, the service platform 11 inquires thestate of the communication path of the network managers 16A and 16B.

Next, in Step S208, the service platform 11 decides a communicationroute.

Then, in Step S210, the service platform 11 performs allocation of anaccess setting.

Next, in Step S212, the service platform 11 performs a resetting of anetwork. For example, the service platform 11 notifies each base station200 and each terminal device 300 of access setting informationindicating the allocation result of Step S210.

Then, in Step S214, the service platform 11 notifies the applicationserver 10 of completion of preparation. Accordingly, a service providedby the application server 10 is started, and communication according tothe access setting information is started between the base station 200Aand the terminal device 300A and between the base station 200B and theterminal device 300B.

Note that, although the example in which the service platform 11functions as the communication control device 100 has been describedabove, the present technology is not limited thereto. For example, anarbitrary device such as the base station 200 or the like may functionas the communication control device 100. In this case, since the basestation 200 can directly communicate with the terminal device 300,communication with a device such as the network managers 16, the networkgateways 12 can be skipped when checking capability information or astate of a communication path. In addition, when the base station 200 orthe terminal device 300 can select desired communication quality such aswhen desired quality relating to an application is categorized, thecommunication control device 100 may omit inquiring about desiredquality to the application server 10.

<3.2. Transmitting Function and Receiving Function>

Next, more detailed configuration examples of the radio communicationdevice according to the present embodiment will be described withreference to FIGS. 11 to 14. The configuration described below can becommon to a radio communication unit 210 of the base station 200 and aradio communication unit 310 of the terminal device 300. FIGS. 11 and 12illustrate a configuration example of a transmission device(transmitting function), and FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate a configurationexample of a reception device (receiving function). These drawings showconfiguration examples that can correspond to multiple schemes includingFrequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), Interleave Division MultipleAccess (IDMA), Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA), SuperpositionCoding (SPC), Rate Splitting Multiple Access (RSMA), and Sparse CodeMultiple Access (SCMA).

(Transmitting Function)

FIGS. 11 and 12 are block diagrams illustrating a functionalconfiguration of the transmission device according to the presentembodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 11, the transmission device 400includes a resource mapper 410, a serial-parallel conversion processingunit 412, FEC encoding processing units 420, interleavers 430, anotherserial-parallel conversion processing unit 432, modulation processingunits 440, and spreading processing units 442. In addition, thetransmission device 400 further includes another serial-parallelconversion processing unit 450, SPC processing units 452, anotherserial-parallel conversion processing unit 460, rate division processingunits 462, an SDM processing unit 470, and FDM processing units 480 asillustrated in FIG. 12.

The resource mapper 410 as a function of performing resource mappingtargeting n user signals. The serial-parallel conversion processingunits 412, 432, 450, and 460 output input information to a propersucceeding entity, functioning as arbiters (information arbiters). TheFEC encoding processing units 420 have a function of performingerror-correction encoding (for example, forward error correction). Theinterleavers 430 have a function of performing multiplexing using IDMAby interleaving an input series. The modulation processing units 440have a function of performing digital modulation. The spreadingprocessing units 442 have a function of performing symbol spreading. Themodulation processing units 440 and the spreading processing units 442perform multiplexing using SCMA. The SPC processing units 452 have afunction of performing multiplexing using SPC. The rate divisionprocessing unit 462 has a function of performing multiplexing usingRSMA. The SDM processing unit 470 has a function of performingmultiplexing using SDMA. The FDM processing units 480 have a function ofperforming multiplexing using FDM.

In addition, the transmission device 400 further includes a controlentity 405 for controlling each of the entities described above asillustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12. The control entity 405 turns on or offtransmitting functions corresponding to each of the multiplexing schemesby turning on or off operations of each entity, or controls parametersof each entity. The control entity 405 has interfaces I_tx0 to I_tx9 forcontrolling the transmitting functions and parameters corresponding toeach of the multiplexing schemes. This is because a proper multiplexingscheme or parameter can be different in, for example, downlink, uplink,and device-to-device (D2D) communication of a cellular system.

For example, the control entity 405 multiplexes user data with the sameresource block via the interface I_tx0. The control entity 405 allocatesan interleave pattern for IDMA via the interface I_tx1. The controlentity 405 selects a pair of signals to be multiplexed using SCMA viathe interface I_tx2. The control entity 405 controls an encoding processand a digital modulation process for SCMA via the interface I_tx3. Thecontrol entity 405 selects a pair of signals to be multiplexed using SPCvia the interface I_tx4. The control entity 405 controls an SPC processvia the interface I_tx5. The control entity 405 selects a pair ofsignals to be multiplexed using RSMA via the interface I_tx6. Thecontrol entity 405 controls a rate division process via the interfaceI_tx7. The control entity 405 controls an SDM process via the interfaceI_tx8. The control entity 405 controls an FDM process via the interfaceI_tx9.

(Receiving Function)

FIGS. 13 and 14 are block diagrams illustrating a functionalconfiguration of the transmission device according to the presentembodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the reception device 500 includesFDM demodulation processing units 510, a spatial equalization processingunit 520, rate division demodulation processing units 530, aserial-parallel conversion processing unit 532, SIC processing units540, and another serial-parallel conversion processing unit 542. Inaddition, as illustrated in FIG. 14, the reception device 500 furtherincludes despreading processing units 550, demodulation processing units552, another serial-parallel conversion processing unit 560,deinterleavers 562, FEC decoding processing units 570, a feedback loopprocessing unit 580, and a resource mapper 582.

The FDM demodulation processing units 510 have a function ofdemodulating a signal multiplexed using FDM. The spatial equalizationprocessing unit 520 has a function of demodulating a signal multiplexedusing SDMA. The rate division demodulation processing units 530 have afunction of demodulating a signal multiplexed using RSMA. Theserial-parallel conversion processing units 532, 542, and 560 outputinput information to a proper succeeding entity, functioning asarbiters. The SIC processing units 540 have a function of demodulating asignal multiplexed using SPC. The despreading processing units 550 havea function of performing despreading of a signal that has undergonesymbol spreading. The demodulation processing units 552 have a functionof demodulating a signal that has digitally modulated. The despreadingprocessing units 550 and demodulation processing units 552 performdemodulation of a signal multiplexed using SCMA. The deinterleavers 562have a function of demodulating a signal multiplexed using IDMA. The FECdecoding processing units 570 have a function of decoding a signal thathas undergone error-correction encoding. The feedback loop processingunit 580 has a function of repeatedly executing the process from thespatial equalization processing unit 520 to the FEC decoding processingunits 570. The resource mapper 582 has a function of acquiring andoutputting n user signals from input signals.

In addition, the reception device 500 further includes a control entity505 for controlling each of the entities described above as illustratedin FIGS. 13 and 14. The control entity 505 turns on or off receivingfunctions corresponding to each of the multiplexing schemes by turningon or off operations of each entity, or controls parameters of eachentity. The control entity 505 has interfaces I_rx0 to I_rx9 forcontrolling the transmitting functions and parameters corresponding toeach of the multiplexing schemes.

For example, the control entity 505 separates user data multiplexed withthe same resource block via the interface I_rx0. The control entity 505allocates a deinterleave pattern for IDMA via the interface I_rx1. Thecontrol entity 505 separates a pair of signals multiplexed using SCMAvia the interface I_rx2. The control entity 505 controls a despreadingprocess and a demodulation process via the interface I_rx3. The controlentity 505 separates a pair of signals multiplexed using SPC via theinterface I_rx4. The control entity 505 controls an SIC process via theinterface I_rx5. The control entity 505 separates a pair of signalsmultiplexed using RSMA via the interface I_rx6. The control entity 505controls a rate division demodulation process via the interface I_rx7.The control entity 505 controls a spatial equalization process via theinterface I_rx8. The control entity 505 controls an FDM demodulationprocess via the interface I_rx9.

<3.3. Details of an Allocation Process of an Access Setting>

Details of the allocation process of an access setting executed in thecommunication system 1 according to the present embodiment will bedescribed below. In the present specification, details of the processwith respect to the communication control device 100, the base station200, and the terminal device 300 will be described focusing on accessschemes among access settings.

<3.3.1. Regarding the Communication Control Device>

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an allocationprocess of an access setting executed by the communication controldevice 100 according to the present embodiment. In the presentflowchart, a case in which there is a possibility of the communicationsystem 1 executing or providing the functions of FDM, SDMA, SPC, IDMA,RSMA, and SCMA is shown as an example.

Steps S302 and S304 are processes for determining whether to allocate(i.e., employ) FDM. Steps S306 to S318 are processes for determiningwhether to allocate SDMA. Steps S310 and S312 are processes fordetermining whether to allocate SPC. Steps S314 and S316 are processesfor determining whether to allocate IDMA. Steps S318 and S320 areprocesses for determining whether to allocate RSMA. Steps S322 and S324are processes for determining whether to allocate SCMA. The order ofthese determination processes is arbitrary. However, since there is arestriction on compatibility of FDM with existing schemes and arestriction on spatial resources of SDMA, it is desirable to determineallocation of the schemes earlier than others.

First, the process of determining whether to allocate FDM is performedas shown in FIG. 15. Specifically, in Step S302, the control unit 130determines whether or not it is necessary to simultaneously executecommunication with a legacy RAT using orthogonal resources. That is, thecontrol unit 130 determines the necessity of compatibility with thelegacy RAT. The legacy RAT is set to indicate, for example, OFDMA orSC-FDMA that is the existing 4G RAT. The control unit 130 may refer tocapability information of each device for the determination. Whencommunication is performed including the terminal device 300 which isonly compatible with the legacy RAT, for example, the control unit 130determines that it is necessary to simultaneously execute communicationwith the legacy RAT (Yes in S302). In this case, FDM is not employed. Inother words, the control unit 130 performs allocation to employ thelegacy RAT. On the other hand, when communication is performed withoutincluding the terminal device 300 which is only compatible the legacyRAT, for example, the control unit 130 determines that it is notnecessary to simultaneously execute communication with the legacy RAT(No in S302). In this case, the control unit 130 performs a process ofdetermining employment of FDM in Step S304.

Next, the process of determining whether to allocate SDMA is performed.Specifically, in Step S306, the control unit 130 determines whether beamsteering is effectively operated for a network or a terminal. When beamsteering is determined to be effectively operated for a network or aterminal (Yes in S306), the control unit 130 performs a process ofdetermining employment of SDMA in Step S308. On the other hand, whenbeam steering is determined not to be effectively operated for a networkor a terminal (No in S306), the control unit 130 determines not toemploy SDMA. In SDMA, signals can be transmitted and received from onetransmission device to a plurality of reception devices using the samefrequency and time. In this case, the transmission device desirably hasa plurality of antennas, and transmits a signal to each of the receptiondevices from the different antennas or transmit respective signalscombined using a precoding technology from the plurality of antennas.The signal transmitted as above is in a spatially orthogonal orquasi-orthogonal state, and the reception devices can separate,demodulate, and decode even a signal that has been multiplexed with thesame frequency and time resources through spatial filtering, maximumlikelihood detection, or a detection scheme equivalent thereto. Inaddition, in SDMA, signals can be transmitted and received from aplurality of transmission devices to one reception device using the samefrequency and time. In this case, the reception device desirably has aplurality of antenna. The plurality of transmission devices transmitssignals sharing at least some of frequency resources and time resources.In order to determine whether or not beam steering is effectivelyoperated for a network or terminal, for example, it is desirable for thecontrol unit 130 to discern, for example, an antenna mounting state ofeach communication device, and a radio propagation state between thebase station 200 and respective terminal devices 300. The reason thatdiscerning a radio propagation state is desirable is that, for example,when SDMA is attempted to be executed between two transmission devicesand one reception device and radio propagation states between thedifferent transmission devices and the reception device are similar toeach other (for example, when the correlation between channel responsecoefficients or transfer functions is high), it is difficult even forthe reception device having the plurality of antennas to separate,demodulate, and decode signals transmitted from the plurality oftransmission devices. The multiplexing method using SDMA can also beunderstood as multiplexing in a space area.

At the time of the determination with regard to SPC, IDMA, RSMA, andSCMA described above, it is desirable to determine the schemes based onspatial resources (beam) generated through the employment of SDMA. Thisis because SPC, IDMA, RSMA, and SCMA are basically non-orthogonalmultiple access scheme-based technologies, and it is not necessary toperform multiplexing with respect to signals or communication devicesthat already have been assigned to different beams in the stage of SDMAusing non-orthogonal resources. On the other hand, when there is asignal or a communication device that are not assigned even with SDMA(for example, there are a plurality of transmission devices or receptiondevices which have similar radio propagation states and a highcorrelation of channel response coefficients), the control unit 130determines execution of multiplexing using non-orthogonal resources.

Next, the process of determining whether to allocate SPC is performed.Specifically, in Step S310, the control unit 130 determines whetherthere are communication devices having different level differences ofpath loss in the same transmission beam. When there are determined to becommunication devices having different level differences of path loss inthe same transmission beam (Yes in S310), the control unit 130 performsa process of determining employment of SPC in Step S312. On the otherhand, when there is no communication device having different leveldifferences of path loss in the same transmission beam (No in S310), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ SPC. SPC is a scheme ofmultiplexing a plurality of signals in a power space on the samefrequency, time, and space. During multiplexing, it is desirable toallocate electric power of different levels to the power of respectivesignals. Accordingly, the reception device can easily use SPC as adetection, demodulation, and decoding scheme. By employing thedetermination reference of whether or not there are communicationdevices having different level differences of path loss in radiopropagation states, the control unit 130 can take a wide control rangeof quality of signals to be multiplexed considering both the leveldifference of the signals to be multiplexed and the level difference ofpath loss. The multiplexing method using SPC can also be understood asmultiplexing in an electric power area.

Next, the process of determining whether to allocate IDMA is performed.Specifically, in Step S314, the control unit 130 determines whether ornot there are still communication devices which have difficultymultiplexing in the same transmission beam. When it is determined thatthere are still communication devices which have difficulty multiplexingin the same transmission beam (Yes in S314), the control unit 130performs a process of determining employment of IDMA in Step S316. Onthe other hand, when it is determined that there is no communicationdevice having difficulty multiplexing in the same transmission beam (Noin S314), the control unit 130 determines not to employ IDMA. IDMA isalso a kind of non-orthogonal multiple access schemes, and basicallyuses error-correction codes and iterative (turbo) received signalprocessing. While a plurality of different signal and communicationdevices use at least some of the same frequency, time, space, andelectric power, the transmission devices uses different interleavepatterns of interleave to be applied to respective signals. Accordingly,the reception device can easily perform signal separation, demodulation,and decoding. This multiplexing method can also be understood asmultiplexing in an interleave area or a bit area. Note that, in IDMA,different interleave patterns may be applied to communication devices orsignals allocated to different spatial resources.

Next, the process of determining whether to allocate RSMA is performed.Specifically, in Step S318, the control unit 130 determines whether ornot there are still communication devices having difficulty multiplexingin the same transmission beam. When it is determined that there arestill communication devices having difficulty multiplexing in the sametransmission beam (Yes in Step S318), the control unit 130 performs aprocess of determining employment of RSMA in Step S320. On the otherhand, when it is determined that there is no communication device havingdifficulty multiplexing in the same transmission beam (No in S318), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ RSMA. Although having asimilar aspect to SPC, RSMA is a non-orthogonal multiple access schemein which multiplexing is performed while adjusting a communication rate(coding rate, modulation scheme, or the like) so that signals ofdifferent communication devices can be received while they interferewith each other. By adjusting a coding rate or modulation scheme, thecommunication devices can control tolerance with respect to signalquality (for example, SINR, SNR, or the like).

Next, the process of determining whether to allocate SCMA is performed.Specifically, in Step S322, the control unit 130 determines whether ornot there are still communication devices having difficulty multiplexingin the same transmission beam. When it is determined that there arestill communication devices having difficulty multiplexing in the sametransmission beam (Yes in Step S322), the control unit 130 performs aprocess of determining employment of SCMA in Step S324. On the otherhand, when it is determined that there is no communication device havingdifficulty multiplexing in the same transmission beam (No in S322), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ SCMA. Although being a similarscheme to CDMA, SCMA is a method in which sparse codes (signatures)including {0, 1} (in which the ratio of 1 is low) are used instead ofspreading codes and multiplexing is performed by allocating signaturesof different patterns to different signals. In addition to employingsuch signatures, in terms of a digital modulation scheme, signalprocessing such as a unitary transformation of modulation symbols of PSKand QAM, or modulation symbols with non-uniform inter-signal-pointdistances on a constellation (non-uniform constellation) may be applied.The reception device can separate signature-multiplexed signals usingiterative signal processing or turbo signal processing such as a messagetransmission method (message passing algorithm).

In Steps S304, S308, S312, S316, S320, and S324 described above,allocation or non-allocation of each multiplexing scheme is specificallydetermined. A multiplexing scheme of an omitted step is set not to beallocated. With this structure of the flowchart, complexity of thedetermination process can be avoided.

Details of the processes of determining employment of the variousmultiplexing schemes in Steps S304, S308, S312, S316, S320, and S324will be described below.

(FDM Employment Determination Process)

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the FDMemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice 100 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 16, the control unit 130 first determines whether ornot it is necessary to simultaneously execute communication with thelegacy RAT using orthogonal resources in Step S402. This determinationis the same as that of Step S302 in FIG. 15.

When simultaneously executing communication with the legacy RAT usingorthogonal resources is determined to be necessary (Yes in Step S402),the control unit 130 employs OFDM as a modulation scheme to be allocatedin Step S404. Not employing FDM can be understood as being equivalent toemploying OFDM.

When simultaneously executing communication with the legacy RAT usingorthogonal resources is determined not to be necessary (No in StepS402), the control unit 130 determines whether or not electric power ofa transmission device and reception device is problematic in Step S406.As a problem of electric power, for example, a peak-to-average powerratio (PAPR) is exemplified.

When electric power is determined to be problematic (Yes in S406), thecontrol unit 130 employs single carrier modulation (for example,SC-FDMA) as a modulation scheme to be allocated in Step S408.

On the other hand, when electric power is determined not to beproblematic (No in S406), the control unit 130 employs Filter BankMulti-Carrier (FBMC) as a modulation scheme to be allocated in StepS410. Note that the meaning “not being problematic” includes a trivialproblem.

As described above, the control unit 130 can employ multiplexing schemes(modulation schemes) to be allocated through Steps S404, and S408 orS410. The control unit 130 may end the process with the steps, or adoptthe following flow (each step from Step S412). A different modulationscheme may be employed through the following flow. In addition, when thesame modulation schemes are employed by executing Steps S404 and S408 orS410 again in the following flow, for example, the control unit 130 mayexecute a process of adjusting a parameter to be used in modulation, inaddition to selection of the modulation schemes. In addition, when StepsS404 and S408 or S410 are executed a predetermined number of times, thecontrol unit 130 may employ a modulation scheme selected thepredetermined number of times, and end the process. In addition, whenthe process ends without selecting a scheme the predetermined number oftimes, the control unit 130 may determine not to employ FDM.

When single carrier modulation is employed, the control unit 130determines whether or not an achievable system capacity is sufficient inStep S412. For example, the control unit 130 estimates a system capacity(a throughput, a user capacity, a user throughput, or the like) that canbe achieved through single carrier modulation, and determines whether ornot the result of the estimation reaches a target value.

When the achievable system capacity is determined not to be sufficient(No in S412), the control unit 130 employs FBMC as a modulation schemeto be allocated in Step S410. There is a possibility of FBMC havinghigher frequency use efficiency than single carrier modulation.

On the other hand, when the achievable system capacity is determined tobe sufficient (Yes in S412), the control unit 130 determines in StepS414 whether or not data of a plurality of services and applications canbe efficiently handled when single carrier modulation is employed.

When it is determined that the data can be efficiently handled (Yes inS414), the process returns to Step S408 again.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data will notefficiently handled (No in S414), the control unit 130 determines inStep S416 whether or not the data of a plurality of services andapplications can be handled through resource sharing in the timedirection when single carrier modulation is employed.

When it is determined that the data can be handled with resource sharingin the time direction (Yes in Step S416), the process returns to StepS408 again.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data will not behandled with resource sharing in the time direction (No in Step S416),the control unit 130 changes the modulation scheme to be employed toFBMC in Step S410.

When FBMC is employed, the control unit 130 determines in Step S418whether or not complexity of the configuration of the transmissiondevice and/or the reception device is problematic. This is because FBMCgenerally involves higher complexity of a configuration than others.

When it is determined that complexity is problematic (Yes in S418), thecontrol unit 130 employs OFDM as a modulation scheme to be allocated inStep S404.

On the other hand, when it is determined that complexity is notproblematic (No in S418), the control unit 130 determines in Step S420whether or not an achievable system capacity using FBMC is sufficient.

When an achievable system capacity is determined to be sufficient (Yesin S420), the process returns to Step S410 again.

On the other hand, when an achievable system capacity is determined notto be sufficient (No in S420), the control unit 130 determines in StepS422 whether or not data of a plurality of services and applications canbe handled through resource sharing in the time direction when FBMC isemployed.

When it is determined that the data can be handled with resource sharingin the time direction (Yes in Step S422), the process returns to StepS410 again.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data will not behandled through resource sharing in the time direction (No in S422), theprocess ends.

When OFDM is employed, the control unit 130 determines in Step S424whether or not an achievable system capacity using OFDM is sufficient.

When an achievable system capacity is determined to be sufficient (Yesin S424), the process returns to Step S404 again.

On the other hand, when an achievable system capacity is determined notto be sufficient (No in S424), the control unit 130 determines in StepS426 whether or not data of a plurality of services and applications canbe handled through resource sharing in the time direction when OFDM isemployed.

When it is determined that the data can be handled with resource sharingin the time direction (Yes in Step S426), the process returns to StepS404 again.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data will not behandled through resource sharing in the time direction (No in S426), thecontrol unit 130 ends the process.

(SDMA Employment Determination Process)

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the SDMAemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice 100 according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 17, theflowchart for examining whether to employ SDMA that uses atwo-dimensional (2D) space or to employ SDMA that uses athree-dimensional (3D) space is shown. Note that Steps S502 to S510 area process of determining whether or not SDMA that uses a 2D space is tobe employed. In addition, Steps S512 to S520 are a process ofdetermining whether or not SDMA that uses a 3D space is to be employed.Either of the determination processes may be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 17, the control unit 130 first determines in Step S502whether or not complexity of the configuration of the transmissiondevice is problematic when SDMA using a 2D space is employed.

When complexity is determined to be problematic (Yes in S502), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ SDMA and the process ends.

On the other hand, when complexity is determined not to be problematic(No in S502), the control unit 130 determines in Step S504 whether ornot overhead of the system is problematic when SDMA using the 2D spaceis employed.

When overhead is determined to be problematic (Yes in S504), the controlunit 130 determines not to employ SDMA and the process ends.

On the other hand, when overhead is determined not to be problematic (Noin S504), the control unit 130 determines to employ SDMA using the 2Dspace as a multiplexing scheme to be allocated.

Next, in Step S508, the control unit 130 determines an achievable systemcapacity is sufficient when SDMA using the 2D space is employed.

When an achievable system capacity is determined to be sufficient (Yesin S508), the process returns to Step S516 again.

When an achievable system capacity is determined not to be sufficient(No in S508), the control unit 130 determines in Step S510 whether ornot data of a plurality of services and applications can be handledthrough resource sharing in the time direction when SDMA using a 2Dspace is employed.

When it is determined that the data can be handled with resource sharingin the time direction (Yes in Step S510), the process returns to StepS506 again.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data will not behandled through resource sharing in the time direction (No in S510), thecontrol unit 130 determines in Step S512 whether or not complexity ofthe configuration of the transmission device is problematic when SDMAusing a 3D space is employed.

When complexity is determined to be problematic (Yes in S512), theprocess ends.

On the other hand, when complexity is determined not to be problematic(No in S512), the control unit 130 determines in Step S514 whether ornot overhead of the system is problematic when SDMA using the 3D spaceis employed.

When overhead is determined to be problematic (Yes in S514), the processends.

On the other hand, when overhead is determined not to be problematic (Noin S514), the control unit 130 determines in Step S516 to employ SDMAusing the 3D space as a multiplexing scheme to be allocated.

Next, in Step S518, the control unit 130 determines an achievable systemcapacity is sufficient when SDMA using the 3D space is employed.

When an achievable system capacity is determined to be sufficient (Yesin S518), the process returns to Step S506 again.

On the other hand, when an achievable system capacity is determined notto be sufficient (No in S518), the control unit 130 determines in StepS510 whether or not data of a plurality of services and applications canbe handled through resource sharing in the time direction when SDMAusing a 3D space is employed.

When it is determined that the data can be handled with resource sharingin the time direction (Yes in Step S520), the process returns to StepS516 again.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data will not behandled through resource sharing in the time direction (No in S520), theprocess ends.

As described above, the control unit 130 can employ a multiplexingscheme to be allocated through Step S506 or S516. As the descriptionabove with respect to FIG. 16, when Step S506 or S516 is executed againand the same multiplexing scheme is employed, for example, the controlunit 130 may execute a process of adjusting a parameter to be used forSDMA in addition to selection of 2D or 3D. In addition, when Step S506or S516 is executed a predetermined number of times, the control unit130 may employ a multiplexing scheme selected the predetermined numberof times and end the process. In addition, when the process ends withoutthe selection of the predetermined number of times, the control unit 130may determine not to employ SDMA.

(SPC Employment Determination Process)

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the SPCemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice 100 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 18, the control unit 130 first determines in Step S602whether or not a processing load of the transmission device andreception device is problematic when SPC is employed. The control unit130 may determine whether or not complexity of the configuration of thetransmission device and reception device is problematic, instead of orin parallel with a processing load.

When the processing load is determined to be problematic (Yes in S602),the control unit 130 determines not to employ SPC and the process ends.

On the other hand, when a processing load is determined not to beproblematic (No in S602), the control unit 130 determines in Step S604whether or not a delay in decoding of the reception device isproblematic when SPC is employed. This is because, since it is desirablefor the reception device side in a non-orthogonal multiplexing schemesuch as SPC to overcome interference, which is caused by multiplexingperformed using non-orthogonal resources, even through signalprocessing, there is a possibility of a longer delay than in anorthogonal multiplexing scheme occurring.

When the delay in decoding is determined to be problematic (Yes inS604), the control unit 130 determines not to employ SPC and the processends.

On the other hand, when the delay in decoding is determined not to beproblematic (No in S604), the control unit 130 determines in Step S606whether or not electric power of the reception device is problematic.For example, the control unit 130 determines whether or not consumptionpower of the reception device is problematic.

When electric power is determined to be problematic (Yes in S606), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ SPC and the process ends.

On the other hand, when electric power is determined not to beproblematic (No in S606), the control unit 130 employs SPC as amultiplexing scheme to be allocated in Step S608.

Next, in Step S610, the control unit 130 determines an achievable systemcapacity is sufficient when SPC is employed.

When an achievable system capacity is determined to be sufficient (Yesin S610), the process returns to Step S608 again.

On the other hand, when an achievable system capacity is determined notto be sufficient (No in S610), the control unit 130 determines in StepS612 whether or not data of a plurality of services and applications canbe handled through resource sharing in the time direction when SPC isemployed.

When it is determined that the data can be handled with resource sharingin the time direction (Yes in Step S612), the process returns to StepS608 again.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data will not behandled through resource sharing in the time direction (No in S612), theprocess ends.

As described above, the control unit 130 can employ a multiplexingscheme to be allocated through Step S608. When Step S608 is executedagain as described above with respect to FIG. 16, for example, thecontrol unit 130 may execute a process of adjusting a parameter to beused for SPC. In addition, when Step S608 is executed a predeterminednumber of times, the control unit 130 may employ SPC and end theprocess. In addition, when the process ends without selection of thepredetermined number of times, the control unit 130 may determine not toemploy SPC.

(IDMA Employment Determination Process)

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the IDMAemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice 100 according to the present embodiment.

The control unit 130 first determines in Step S702 whether or notcomplexity of the configurations of the transmission device and thereception device is problematic when IDMA is employed.

When complexity is determined to be problematic (Yes in S702), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ IDMA and the process ends.

On the other hand, when complexity is determined not to be problematic(No in S702), the control unit 130 determines in Step S704 whether ornot an achievable peak rate or peak throughput is problematic when IDMAis employed.

When an achievable peak rate or peak throughput is determined to beproblematic (Yes in S704), the control unit 130 determines not to employDMA and ends the process.

On the other hand, when an achievable peak rate or peak throughput isdetermined not to be problematic (No in S704), the control unit 130determines in Step S706 whether or not simultaneous communication withthe legacy RAT that is not compatible with IDMA is problematic when IDMAis employed. Since adjustment of the level of electric power isgenerally not performed in IDMA as in SPC, interference caused bymultiplexing of IDMA can be severer than in SPC. For this reason, thereis a possibility of simultaneous multiplexing with a legacy device beingdifficult. Thus, when it is necessary to simultaneously communicate witha legacy device, it is desirable to avoid employing IDMA.

When simultaneous communication with the legacy RAT that is notcompatible with IDMA is determined to be problematic (Yes in S706), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ IDMA and the process ends.

On the other hand, when simultaneous communication with the legacy RATthat is not compatible with IDMA is determined not to be problematic (Noin S706), the control unit 130 employs IDMA as a multiplexing scheme tobe allocated in Step S708.

Next, in Step S710, the control unit 130 determines an achievable systemcapacity is sufficient when IDMA is employed.

When an achievable system capacity is determined to be sufficient (Yesin S710), the process returns to Step S708 again.

On the other hand, when an achievable system capacity is determined notto be sufficient (No in S710), the control unit 130 determines in StepS712 whether or not data of a plurality of services and applications canbe handled through resource sharing in the time direction when IDMA isemployed.

When it is determined that the data can be handled with resource sharingin the time direction (Yes in Step S712), the process returns to StepS708 again.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data will not behandled through resource sharing in the time direction (No in S712), theprocess ends.

As described above, the control unit 130 can employ a multiplexingscheme to be allocated through Step S708. When Step S708 is executedagain as described above with respect to FIG. 16, for example, thecontrol unit 130 may execute a process of adjusting a parameter to beused for IDMA. In addition, when Step S708 is executed a predeterminednumber of times, the control unit 130 may employ IDMA and end theprocess. In addition, when the process ends without selection of thepredetermined number of times, the control unit 130 may determine not toemploy IDMA.

(RSMA Employment Determination Process)

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the RSMAemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice 100 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 20, the control unit 130 first determines in Step S802whether or not complexity of the configuration of the transmissiondevice is problematic.

When complexity is determined to be problematic (Yes in S802), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ RSMA and the process ends.

On the other hand, when complexity is determined not to be problematic(No in S802), the control unit 130 determines in Step S804 whether ornot electric power of the transmission device is problematic when RSMAis employed.

When electric power is determined to be problematic (Yes in S804), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ RSMA and the process ends.

On the other hand, when electric power is determined not to beproblematic (No in S804), the control unit 130 employs RSMA as amultiplexing scheme to be allocated in Step S806.

Next, in Step S808, the control unit 130 determines an achievable systemcapacity is sufficient when RSMA is employed.

When an achievable system capacity is determined to be sufficient (Yesin S808), the process returns to Step S806 again.

On the other hand, when an achievable system capacity is determined notto be sufficient (No in S808), the control unit 130 determines in StepS810 whether or not data of a plurality of services and applications canbe handled through resource sharing in the time direction when RSMA isemployed.

When it is determined that the data can be handled with resource sharingin the time direction (Yes in Step S810), the process returns to StepS806 again.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data will not behandled through resource sharing in the time direction (No in S810), theprocess ends.

As described above, the control unit 130 can employ a multiplexingscheme to be allocated through Step S806. When Step S806 is executedagain as described above with respect to FIG. 16, for example, thecontrol unit 130 may execute a process of adjusting a parameter to beused for RSMA. In addition, when Step S806 is executed a predeterminednumber of times, the control unit 130 may employ RSMA and end theprocess. In addition, when the process ends without selection of thepredetermined number of times, the control unit 130 may determine not toemploy RSMA.

(SCMA Employment Determination Process)

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the SCMAemployment determination process executed in the communication controldevice 100 according to the present embodiment.

First, in Step S902, the control unit 130 determines whether or not theelectric power of the reception device is problematic when SCMA isemployed.

When electric power is determined to be problematic (Yes in S902), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ SCMA and the process ends.

On the other hand, when electric power is determined not to beproblematic (No in S902), the control unit 130 determines in Step S904whether or not simultaneous communication with the legacy RAT that isnot compatible with SCMA is problematic.

When simultaneous communication with the legacy RAT that is notcompatible with IDMA is determined to be problematic (Yes in S904), thecontrol unit 130 determines not to employ SCMA and the process ends.

On the other hand, when simultaneous communication with the legacy RATthat is not compatible with SCMA is determined not to be problematic (Noin S904), the control unit 130 determines in Step S906 whether or not adelay in decoding of the reception device is problematic.

When the delay in decoding is determined to be problematic (Yes inS906), the control unit 130 determines not to employ SCMA and theprocess ends.

On the other hand, when a delay in decoding is determined not to beproblematic (No in S906), the control unit 130 employs SCMA as amultiplexing scheme to be allocated in Step S908. The control unit 130may select a digital modulation scheme to be employed in addition to theemployment of SCMA. For example, the control unit 130 may determinewhether to employ a modulation scheme that has employed non-uniformsignal point disposition (Non-Uniform Constellation) or UnbalanceModulation (UBM) for QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, 256QAM, and the like. Forexample, the control unit 130 may employ NUC when SCMA is employed, oremploy Uniform Constellation (UC) when SCMA s not employed.

Next, in Step S910, the control unit 130 determines an achievable systemcapacity is sufficient when SCMA is employed.

When an achievable system capacity is determined to be sufficient (Yesin S910), the process returns to Step S908 again.

On the other hand, when an achievable system capacity is determined notto be sufficient (No in S910), the control unit 130 determines in StepS912 whether or not data of a plurality of services and applications canbe handled through resource sharing in the time direction when SCMA isemployed.

When it is determined that the data can be handled with resource sharingin the time direction (Yes in Step S912), the process returns to StepS908 again.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the data will not behandled through resource sharing in the time direction (No in S912), theprocess ends.

As described above, the control unit 130 can employ a multiplexingscheme to be allocated through Step S908. When Step S908 is executedagain as described above with respect to FIG. 16, for example, thecontrol unit 130 may execute a process of adjusting a parameter to beused for SCMA. In addition, when Step S908 is executed a predeterminednumber of times, the control unit 130 may employ SCMA and end theprocess. In addition, when the process ends without selection of thepredetermined number of times, the control unit 130 may determine not toemploy SCMA.

<3.3.2. Regarding a Base Station and a Terminal Device>

(Signal processing on a transmission device side)

Signal Processing on a Transmission Device Side According to an AccessSetting allocated by the communication control device 100 will bedescribed below. Herein processing when DMA, SPC, SCMA, SDMA (or SDM),and OFDMA (or SC-FDMA) are allocated will be described as an example.Note that, when there is an access scheme not allocated by thecommunication control device 100, processing relating to an accessscheme not allocated in the processing described below may be skipped.The expression of a vector included in the following description is setto indicate a column vector unless specified otherwise. In addition,description will be provided focusing on signals of a user k unlessparticularly specified.

In addition, the base station 200 will be described below as a stationfunctioning as a transmission device on the assumption of downlinkcommunication. In uplink, the terminal device 300 functions as atransmission device, and thus performs the same process as describedbelow.

(A) Decision of a Data Size

First, the control unit 240 decides the data size of data that the userk transmits. The body of the data size is equivalent to a packet datasize, a frame data size or a transport block size (TBS). This size isdesirably decided based on the amount of orthogonal and non-orthogonalresources allocated to the user k, a modulation scheme, a coding rate,or the like. A data size N_(Bit,TBS,k) is computed using, for example,the following Expression 1.

$\begin{matrix}{\mspace{79mu}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{14mu} 1} \right\rbrack} & \; \\{{\overset{\sim}{N}}_{{Bit},{TBS},k} = {{floor}\left( {\sum\limits_{i \in I_{k}}\;{\sum\limits_{p \in P_{k}}\;{\sum\limits_{c \in C_{k}}{\sum\limits_{s \in S_{k}}{\sum\limits_{r \in R_{k}}{N_{{RE},i,p,c,s,r}Q_{{RE},i,p,c,s,r}}}}}}} \right)}} & {{Expression}\mspace{14mu} 1}\end{matrix}$

Here, I_(k) indicates an interleaver index group allocated to the userk. P_(k) indicates an SPC/electric power level layer index groupallocated to the user k. C_(k) indicates a code resource index group ofSCMA allocated to the user k. S_(k) indicates a spatial resource indexgroup allocated to the user k. R_(k) indicates a resource block indexgroup allocated to the user k. N_(RE,i,p,c,s,r) indicates the number ofresource elements per interleaver electric power layer p, code c, spaces, and resource block r. Q_(RE,i,p,c,s,r) bit efficiency per resourceelement (roughly, multiplication of the number of bits and a code rateper modulation symbol). In addition, floor(x) in Expression 1 is afunction for computing a maximum integer that is equal to or lower thana value x.

As another example, the same modulation scheme and coding rate can alsobe used between allocated resources. With this setting, an amount ofaccess setting information can be reduced. In such a case, a data sizeis calculated using the following Expression 2.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{14mu} 2} \right\rbrack & \; \\{{\overset{\_}{N}}_{{Bit},{TBS},k} = {{floor}\left( {Q_{RE}{\sum\limits_{i \in I_{k}}\;{\sum\limits_{p \in P_{k}}\;{\sum\limits_{c \in C_{k}}{\sum\limits_{s \in S_{k}}{\sum\limits_{r \in R_{k}}N_{{RE},i,p,c,s,r}}}}}}} \right)}} & {{Expression}\mspace{14mu} 2}\end{matrix}$

Further, a data size candidate table may be shared between communicationdevices. In such a case, notification of a data size betweentransmission and reception devices is further simplified, and thus lowoverhead is achieved. In that case, the final data size is calculatedusing the following Expression 3.N _(Bit,TBS,k)=max{N _(Bit,TBS,cand,m) |Ñ _(Bit,TBS,k) ≤N_(Bit,TBS,cand,m)}  [Math. 3]

Expression 3

Here, cand indicates the number of data size candidates.N_(Bit,TBS,cand,m) indicates an m-th data size candidate.

Note that, when the data size candidate table is not shared, the finaldata size may be calculated using the following Expression 4.N _(Bit,TBS,k) =N _(Bit,TBS,k)  [Math.4]

Expression 4

Note that the processes described above can be performed by the resourcemapper 410 and the serial-parallel conversion processing unit 412 shownin FIG. 11.

(B) Error correction code

The control unit 240 controls the radio communication unit 210 toperform error correction using an error correction encoder. A vectorincluding a transmission bit b_(n,k) (n=0, . . . , N_(Bit,TBS,k)−1) isset to b_(k). The radio communication unit 210 may encode thetransmission series in a mass or in units of radio resources. Note thatthe configuration example illustrated in FIG. 11 corresponds to thelatter configuration.

A coded bit vector b′_(k) including coding bit b′_(m,k) (m=0,N_(CodedBit,k)−1) when the series is coded in a mass is expressed withthe following Expression 5.b′ _(k) =FEC(b _(k) ,M,k)  [Math.5]

Expression 5

Here, FEC(x) is a function indicating coding, and M indicates a codingrate. As shown in Expression 5 above, error correction coding depends onthe user k or may be variable.

As another example, coding per succeeding interleaver is considered.First, it is desirable to sort transmission bits to interleaverresources. For this sorting, for example, a parser, serial-to-parallelconversion, or the like can be used. As an example of a sorting rule toan i-th interleaver, the following Expression 6 is considered.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{14mu} 6} \right\rbrack & \; \\{{b_{n^{\prime},i^{\prime},k} = b_{n,k}},{i^{\prime} = {n\mspace{14mu}{mod}\mspace{14mu} N_{I,k}}},{n^{\prime} = {{floor}\mspace{14mu}\left( {n\text{/}N_{I,k}} \right)}},{n^{\prime} = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{\frac{N_{{Bit},{TBS},k}}{N_{I,k}} - 1}} & {{Expression}\mspace{14mu} 6}\end{matrix}$

Here, i′=0, . . . , N_(I,k)−1. N_(I,k) indicates the number ofinterleavers allocated to the user k.

Attention should be paid to the index i of interleavers for the entireradio communication unit 210 and the index i′ for the number ofinterleavers of the user k because they have different meanings.Attention should also be paid to the relation of indexes of otherresources below.

When N_(Bit,TBS,k) is a number that is indivisible by N_(I,k), the radiocommunication unit 210 may embed a dummy bit, a padding bit, a fillerbit, or the like for number-crunching. For example, the radiocommunication unit 210 may set b_(n′, i′,k) as a dummy bit forn′=N_(Bit,TBS,k)/N_(I,k)−1 of i′=(N_(Bit,TBS,k) mod N_(I,k)), . . . ,N_(I,k)−1. The radio communication unit 210 executes error correctioncoding for each sorted transmission bit after the sorting. The vector ofa coded bit b′_(m,i′,k)(m=0, N_(CodedBit,i′,k)−1) is expressed with, forexample, the following Expression 7.b′ _(i′,k) ×FEC(b _(i′,k) i,M _(i) ,k)  [Math.7]

Expression 7

As shown in Expression 7 above, a coded rate may be a variable codedrate M_(i) according to i.

Note that the above processes can be performed by the FEC encodingprocessing units 420 shown in FIG. 11.

(C) Interleave

The radio communication unit 210 interleaves the coded rate after theerror correction coding. As shown in Expression 5 above, when errorcorrection coding is performed in a mass, the radio communication unit210 sorts coded bits to each interleaver. As an example of a sortingrule to an f-th interleaver, the following Expression 8 is considered.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{14mu} 8} \right\rbrack & \; \\{{b_{n^{\prime},i^{\prime},k}^{\prime} = b_{n,k}^{\prime}},{i^{\prime} = {n\mspace{14mu}{mod}\mspace{14mu} N_{I,k}}},{n^{\prime} = {{floor}\mspace{14mu}\left( {n\text{/}N_{I,k}} \right)}},{n^{\prime} = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{\frac{N_{{CodedBit},k}}{N_{I,k}} - 1}} & {{Expression}\mspace{14mu} 8}\end{matrix}$

When N_(CodedBit,k) is a number that is indivisible by N_(I,k), theradio communication unit 210 may embed a dummy bit, a padding bit, afiller bit, or the like for number-crunching. For example, the radiocommunication unit 210 may set as a dummy bit forn′=N_(CodedBit,k)/N_(I,k)−1 of =(N_(CodedBit,k) mod N_(I,k)), . . . ,N_(I,k)−1. In addition, the radio communication unit 210 may furtherinsert a dummy bit, considering a digital modulation scheme of the laterstage. For example, when N_(CodedBit,i′,k) is not an integral multipleof the number of bits M_(B) per symbol of a modulation scheme of thelater stage, the radio communication unit 210 may insert a dummy bitinto the shortfall so that it becomes an integral multiple.

Then, the radio communication unit 210 executes interleave with respectto each coded bit series. When an interleave pattern of an interleaver iallocated to the user k is set to p_(i)(x) and an i′-th series of theuser k is set to correspond to the interleaver i, the vector b″_(i′,k)of the bit series after the interleave is expressed with the followingExpression 9.b′ _(i′,k)=π_(i)(b′ _(i′,l))  [Math.9]

Expression 9

Note that the length of the bit series after the interleave may be thesame as that before the interleave.

Note that the processes described above can be performed by theinterleaver 430 and the serial-parallel conversion processing unit 432shown in FIG. 11.

(D) Digital Modulation

The radio communication unit 210 maps the bit series to a modulationsymbol that is a complex number after interleave. The bit series ismapped to a complex symbol for each M_(B) according to a modulationscheme. Here, M_(B) is the number of bits per complex symbol. Forexample, M_(B)=2 in QPSK, M_(B)=4 in 16QAM, and M_(B)=6 in 64QAM. Thetype of modulation scheme used by the radio communication unit 210 iscontrolled by the control unit 240. Note that, when the terminal device300 is a transmission device, it can be controlled by the base station200.

When a modulation scheme of UC is used, a vector s_(i′,k) of a complexsymbol s_(m,i′,k) after modulation (m=0, . . . , N_(symbol,i′,k)−1) isexpressed with the following Expression 10.s _(i′,k)=Mapper_(UC)(b″ _(i′,k) ,M _(B,i′))  [Math.10]

Expression 10

On the other hand, when a modulation scheme of NUC is used, the vectors_(i′,k) of the complex symbol after modulation is expressed with thefollowing Expression 11.s _(i′,k)=Mapper_(NUC)(b″ _(i′,k) M _(B,i′))  [Math.11]

Expression 11

A modulation scheme (the value of M_(B) and whether UC or NUC is used)may be variable or different with respect to the index i. In addition,average electric power of the complex symbol after modulation is set tobe normalized to 1.

Note that the processes described above can be performed by themodulation processing units 440 shown in FIG. 11.

(E) Symbol spreading

The radio communication unit 210 executes a spreading process aftermapping to a complex symbol. A spreading code series c (spreading rateSF_(c)) is set to be allocated to the interleaver resource index i. Whenthe series is set to x_(c,l) (1=0, . . . , SF_(c)−1), a complex symbolseries of a symbol s′_(l′,i′,k)(l′=0, . . . , N_(Symbol,i′,k),SF_(c)−1)is expressed with the following Expression 12.s′ _(l′,i′,k) =s _(floor(l′/SF) _(c) _(,i′,k) x _(c,l′modSF) _(c)  [Math.12]

Expression 12

In addition, this spreading process is expressed by vectors with thefollowing Expression 13.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{14mu} 13} \right\rbrack & \; \\{{s_{i^{\prime},k}^{\prime} = {X_{c}s_{i^{\prime},k}}},{X_{c} = \underset{\underset{{({{SF} \times N_{{Symbol},i^{\prime},k}})} \times {(N_{{Symbol},i^{\prime},k})}}{︸}}{\begin{bmatrix}x_{c} & 0_{{SF} \times 1} & \ldots & 0_{{SF} \times 1} \\0_{{SF} \times 1} & x_{c} & 0_{{SF} \times 1} & \vdots \\\vdots & 0_{{SF} \times 1} & \ddots & 0_{{SF} \times 1} \\0 & \ldots & 0_{{SF} \times 1} & x_{c}\end{bmatrix}}}} & {{Expression}\mspace{14mu} 13}\end{matrix}$

Here, O_(SF′1) means a zero vector of a length SF.

If spreading is skipped, the radio communication unit 210 may setSF_(c)=1 and x_(c,o)=1. The spreading series used here may take anarbitrary value; however, it is desirable to meet three conditions thatzero may be included, the absolute value is 1 when it is not a zero, andthe value is +1 or −1 when it is an integer.

Note that the process described above can be performed by the spreadingprocessing units 442 shown in FIG. 11.

(F) Multiplexing and Allocation of Electric Power Using SPC

The radio communication unit 210 executes multiplexing using SPC afterspreading. With the processes described above, N_(I,k) complex seriesare generated. The radio communication unit 210 sorts this complexseries to the number of power resource indexes N_(P,k) allocated to theuser k again. As a rule of this sorting, for example the followingExpression 14 is considered.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{14mu} 14} \right\rbrack & \; \\{{s_{o^{\prime},p^{\prime},k^{\prime}}^{''} = s_{l^{\prime},i^{\prime},k}^{\prime}},{o^{\prime} = {{floor}\left\{ {\left( {{l^{\prime}N_{I,k}} + i^{\prime}} \right)/N_{P,k}} \right\}}},{p^{\prime} = {\left( {{l^{\prime}N_{I,k}} + i^{\prime}} \right)\;{mod}\mspace{14mu} N_{P,k}}},{o^{\prime} = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{\frac{\sum\limits_{i^{\prime} = 0}^{N_{I,k}}\; N_{{Symbol},i^{\prime},k}}{N_{P,k}} - 1},{p^{\prime} = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{N_{P,k} - 1}} & {{Expression}\mspace{14mu} 14}\end{matrix}$

After the sorting, the radio communication unit 210 sorts an electricpower level A_(p) corresponding to the p′-th electric power resources toeach series s″_(p′,k). In this case, each series is expressed as thefollowing expression.s′″ _(p′,k)=√{square root over (A _(p))}s″ _(p′,k)  [Math.15]

Expression 15

Here, the value of the allocated electric power level A_(p) is desirablydifferent due to p. After electric power is allocated, the radiocommunication unit 210 may perform multiplexing (addition) using SPCwith respect to a signal of the same user k. In this case, the complexvector v_(k) after multiplexing is expressed with the followingexpression.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{14mu} 16} \right\rbrack & \; \\{v_{k} = {\sum\limits_{p^{\prime} = 0}^{N_{P,k} - 1}\; s_{p^{\prime},k}^{\prime\prime\prime}}} & {{Expression}\mspace{14mu} 16}\end{matrix}$

Note that the processes described above can be performed by theserial-parallel conversion processing unit 450 and the SPC processingunits 452 shown in FIG. 12.

(G) SDMA

The radio communication unit 210 executes multiplexing in the orthogonalfrequency and space directions for OFDMA and SDMA after multiplexing andallocation of electric power are executed using SPC. As a mechanism ofthe radio communication unit 210 for assigning a complex symbol in thefrequency and space directions, a method of assigning a complex symbolin the order of the frequency direction as the first and the spacedirection as the second, and a method of assigning a complex symbol inthe order of the space direction as the first and the frequencydirection as the second are considered.

In the method of assigning a complex symbol in the order of thefrequency direction as the first and the space direction as the second,the radio communication unit 210 assigns a complex symbol in thefrequency direction first. When N_(R,k) resource blocks are assigned tothe user k, the complex symbol u_(q,r′,k) of the r′-th resource block isexpressed with the following expression.u _(q,r′,k) =v _(o′,k),q=floor(o′/N _(R,k)),r′=o′ mod N _(R,k)  [Math.17]

Expression 17

Next, the radio communication unit 210 further sorts the series assignedto each resource block in the space direction. The sorted seriesu′_(q′,s′,r′,k) is expressed with the following expression.u′ _(q′,s′,r′,k) =u _(q,r′,k),q′=floor(q/N _(S,k))s′=q mod N _(S,k)  [Math.18]

Expression 18

On the other hand, in the method of assigning a complex symbol in theorder of the space direction as the first and the frequency direction asthe second, the radio communication unit 210 assigns an SPC multiplexedsignal in the space direction first. When N_(S,k) resource blocks areassigned to the user k, the complex symbol u_(q,s′,k) of the s′-th spaceresources is expressed with the following expression.u _(q,s′,k) =v _(o′,k),q=floor(o′/N _(S,k)),s′=o′ mod N _(S,k)  [Math.19]

Expression 19

Next, the radio communication unit 210 further sorts the series assignedto each space resource in the space direction. The sorted seriesu′_(q′,s′,r′,k) is expressed with the following expression.u′ _(q′,s′,r′,k) =u _(q,s′,k),q′=floor(q/N _(R,k)),r′=q mod N _(R,k)  [Math.20]

Expression 20

The mechanism of the radio communication unit 210 for assigning acomplex symbol in the frequency and space directions has been describedabove.

Further, the radio communication unit 210 assigns a seriesu′_(q′,s′,r′,k) to a subcarrier f for each resource block.u″ _(q″,s′,r′,f′,k) =u′ _(q′,s′,r′,k),q″=floor(q′/N _(F,k)),f′=q′mod N _(F,k)  [Math.21]

Expression 21

Here, N_(F,k) is the number of subcarriers per resource block.

Then, the radio communication unit 210 executes precoding for SDMA withrespect to the complex symbol allocated to the space resources. Thespace symbol vector y_(q″,r′,f′,k) after precoding is expressed with thefollowing expression.y _(q′,r′,f′,k) =W _(r′,f′,k) u″ _(q′,r′,f′,k)  [Math.22]

Expression 22

W_(r′,f,k) represents a precoder matrix allocated to the user k. Thesize of W_(r′,f,k) is N_(TX)′N_(S,k), and N_(TX) represents the numberof transmission antennas. u″_(q″,r′,f′,k) represents the vector of aprecoded symbol u″_(q″,r′,f′,k) (s′=0, . . . , N_(S,k)−1).

The radio communication unit 210 may multiplex (add) symbols of users tobe simultaneously transmitted and received after precoding. In thiscase, if the number of users to be multiplexed is set to K, a signalafter the multiplexing is expressed with the following expression.

$\begin{matrix}\left\lbrack {{Math}.\mspace{14mu} 23} \right\rbrack & \; \\{y_{q^{\prime},r^{\prime},f^{\prime}}^{\prime} = {\sum\limits_{k = 0}^{K - 1}\; y_{q^{\prime},r^{\prime},f^{\prime},k}}} & {{Expression}\mspace{14mu} 23}\end{matrix}$

If the radio communication unit 210 does not perform multiplexingexpressed in the Expression 23, it is desirable that transmissionsignals be assigned to different antenna ports with respect to the userindex k.

Note that the processes described above can be performed by the SDMprocessing unit 470 shown in FIG. 12.

(H) Reference Signal

The radio communication unit 210 stores reference signals (RSs) intransmission signals. An RS is used in channel estimation or the like ona reception device side. It is desirable to dispose RSs in apredetermined subcarrier within a band, and a predetermined symbolwithin a subframe when OFDMA is employed.

(I) OFDMA

The radio communication unit 210 executes an inverse discrete Fouriertransform (IDFT) or an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) for OFDMA.After the transform, the radio communication unit 210 transmits signalsfrom each antenna, by adding cyclic prefixes (CPs) or guard intervals(GIs) thereto, if necessary.

Note that the processes described above can be performed by the FDMprocessing units 480 shown in FIG. 12.

(Signal Processing on a Reception Device Side)

Signal processing on a reception device side according to an accesssetting allocated by the communication control device 100 will bedescribed below. Herein processing when IDMA, SPC, SCMA, SDMA (or SDM),and OFDMA (or SC-FDMA) are allocated will be described as an example.Note that, when there is an access scheme not allocated by thecommunication control device 100, processing relating to an accessscheme not allocated in the processing described below may be skipped.The expression of a vector included in the following description is setto indicate a column vector unless specified otherwise. An objective ofa reception device is to decode a bit series b_(k) transmitted toitself.

In addition, description will be provided on the assumption that theterminal device 300 functions as a reception device in downlinkcommunication below. In uplink, the base station 200 functions as areception device, and the processes to be described below are performedin the same manner.

(A) Reception Symbol A reception symbol is transmitted from atransmission antenna at the end of a transmission process of atransmission device described above, passes through a radio propagationpath, and then reaches the terminal device 300 functioning as areception device. Hereinbelow, a reception symbol is also set to beexpressed in the form of a vector.

When the transmission device employs OFDMA, the radio communication unit310 deletes CPs or GIs from signals received from reception antennas,and obtains symbols of each subcarrier of a frequency area by executinga FFT or a DFT. A reception symbol after the transform in the frequencyarea is expressed with vectors of the following expression.ŷ _(q′,r′,f′) =H _(q′,r′,f′) y′ _(q′,r′,f′) +n _(q′,r′,f′)  [Math.24]

Expression 24

H_(q′,r′,f′) represents a channel response matrix of the transmissiondevice and the terminal device 300. A channel response here means aresponse for each subcarrier. The size of H_(q′,r′,f′) is N_(RX)′N_(TX),and N_(RX) represents the number of reception antennas of the radiocommunication unit 310. n_(q′,r′,f′) is a vector including noise andother cell interference component. The size of n_(q′,r′,f′) is N_(RX)′1.

(B) Channel Estimation

The terminal device 300 estimates a response of a propagation paththrough which signals have passed (i.e., a channel response matrix H) inorder to equalize, separate, decode, and the like the signals. For thischannel estimation, it is desirable to use an RS inserted from thetransmission side. By using the RS, the radio communication unit 310acquires an estimation value of which is:Ĥ _(q′,r′,f′)  [Math.25]

Expression 25

(C) Spatial Equalization (Spatial Filtering)

After performing channel estimation, the radio communication unit 310generates a reception weighting matrix for spatial equalizationcorresponding to SDMA, and the matrix is:{circumflex over (F)} _(q′,r′,f′)  [Math.26]

Expression 26

Here, the size of the reception weighting matrix is N_(S,k)′N_(RX). Theradio communication unit 310 performs spatial separation by multiplyingthis reception weighting matrix by a reception symbol. The output of thespatial separation is expressed with the following expression by settingthe size as the vector of N_(S,k)′1.û′ _(q′,r′,f′) ×{circumflex over (F)} _(q′,r′,f′) ŷ_(q′,r′,f′)  [Math.27]

Expression 27

Note that, although Expression 27 shows that a linear process based on aweighting matrix is used, the present technology is not limited thereto.For example, a non-linear process such as an iterative separationprocess may be used. In addition, a process simultaneously performedwith the process of (D) to be described next may be employed. As suchprocesses, for example, joint spatial and power filtering and jointspatial and power decomposition are considered.

Note that the processes described above can be performed by the spatialequalization processing unit 520 shown in FIG. 13.

(D) SIC, Symbol Despreading, Digital Symbol Demodulation (or Generationof a Log Likelihood Ratio)

After spatial equalization, the radio communication unit 310 generates alog likelihood ratio (LLR) per bit equivalent to an interleaved code bitseries b″_(i′,k) from symbols which have undergone digital modulation,symbol spreading, and SPC multiplexing, and the ratio is:ê″ _(i′,k)  [Math.28]

Expression 28

As an interference canceller, the radio communication unit 310 mayemploy a canceller other than an SIC, for example, a parallelinterference canceller (PIC). When allocation of electric power isperformed and an electric power level difference is made as in SPC,however, an SIC is desirably employed. In addition, when an SIC isexecuted, the radio communication unit 310 desirably decodes s″_(p′,k)corresponding to a descending order of the highest A_(p) according tothe electric power level A_(p) of SPC.

Note that the processes described above can be performed by, theserial-parallel conversion processing unit 532, the SIC processing units540, and the serial-parallel conversion processing unit 542 shown inFIG. 13, and the despreading processing units 550, the demodulationprocessing units 552, and the serial-parallel conversion processing unit560 shown in FIG. 14.

(E) Deinterleave

After completing generation of the LLR, the radio communication unit 310restores the order of bits within the series to the original byexecuting deinterleave corresponding to interleave applied on thetransmission side. The series after deinterleave is expressed with thefollowing expression.ê′ _(i′,k)=π_(i) ⁻¹(ê″ _(i′,k)  [Math.29]

Expression 29

Note that the process described above can be performed by thedeinterleavers 562 shown in FIG. 14.

(F) Error Correction Decoding

After deinterleave, the radio communication unit 310 acquires theoriginal transmission bit series by executing decoding corresponding toencoding applied on the transmission side. The original transmission bitseries is expressed with the following expression.{circumflex over (b)} _(k) =DEC(ê′ _(k) ,M,k)  [Math.30]

Expression 30

Here, DEC(x) is a function representing decoding.

Note that the process described above can be performed by the FECdecoding processing units 570 shown in FIG. 14.

(G) Repetitive Process

The radio communication unit 310 may repeatedly execute the processesrelating to (C) to (F) described above. In this case, reception anddecoding performance can be enhanced. Particularly, it is desirable toemploy a repetitive process for SPC multiplexing and separation ofsignals multiplexed on non-orthogonal resources.

Note that the process described above can be performed by the feedbackloop processing unit 580 shown in FIG. 14.

<3.4. Notification of Access Setting Information>

(Operation Process)

A transmission device and a reception device are notified of accesssetting information indicating a result of allocation by thecommunication control device 100. An access setting informationnotification process with respect to the base station 200 and theterminal device 300 in a cellular system will be described below.

FIG. 22 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of anaccess setting information notification process in the communicationsystem 1 according to the present embodiment. The present sequence willbe introduced on the assumption of downlink communication in thecellular system.

As shown in FIG. 22, first in Step S1002, the base station 200 transmitsa DL control channel storing access setting information to the terminaldevice 300. In the transmission of the DL control channel, for example,a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is used. In addition, thebase station 200 may have received access setting information from thecommunication control device 100 beforehand, or the base station 200 andthe communication control device 100 may be integrally formed. Thecontrol unit 330 of the terminal device 300 which have received the DLcontrol channel controls the radio communication unit 310 to receive adata channel using allocated resources represented by the access settinginformation. Accordingly, the terminal device 300 can receive the DLdata channel transmitted from the base station 200. Note that the datachannel may be a shared data channel.

Next, in Step S1004, the base station 200 transmits the DL data channelto the terminal device 300. At this time, the base station 200 performsthe above-described transmission signal processing according to theaccess setting information transmitted in Step S1002. In addition, theterminal device 300 performs the above-described reception signalprocessing according to the access setting information received in StepS1002.

Next, in Step S1006, the terminal device 300 transmits a positiveresponse (ACK) or a negative response (NACK) to the base station 200.

Next, in Steps S1008 to 1012, the base station 200 and the terminaldevice 300 performs the same processes as the above-described StepsS1002 to S1006. Note that, when NACK is transmitted in Step S1006 above,Steps S1008 to S1012 are a re-transmission process.

FIG. 23 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of anotheraccess setting information notification process in the communicationsystem 1 according to the present embodiment. The present sequence willbe introduced on the assumption of uplink communication in the cellularsystem.

As shown in FIG. 23, first in Step S1102, the base station 200 transmitsa DL control channel storing access setting information to the terminaldevice 300. In the transmission of the DL control channel, for example,a PDCCH is used. In addition, the base station 200 may have received theaccess setting information from the communication control device 100beforehand. The control unit 330 of the terminal device 300 that hasreceived the DL control channel controls the radio communication unit310 to transmit a data channel or a control channel using allocatedresources represented by the access setting information. Accordingly,the terminal device 300 can transmit a UL data channel to the basestation 200.

Next, in Step S1104, the terminal device 300 transmits the UL datachannel to the base station 200. At this time, the terminal device 300performs the above-described transmission signal processing according tothe access setting information received in Step S1102 above. Inaddition, the base station 200 performs the above-described receptionsignal processing according to the access setting informationtransmitted in Step S1102 above.

Next, in Step S1106, the base station 200 transmits a positive response(ACK) or a negative response (NACK) to the terminal device 300.

Next, in Steps S1108 to S1112, the base station 200 and the terminaldevice 300 perform the same processes as the above-described Steps S1102to S1106. Note that, when NACK is transmitted in Step S1106, Steps S1108to S1112 are a re-transmission process. In addition, Step S1106 and StepS1108 described above may be simultaneously performed in one time ofcommunication.

Note that, although the processing examples have been described above onthe assumption of the cellular system, the present technology may beapplied to systems other than a cellular system. In that case, atransmission device functions as the communication control device 100,and the transmission device may notify a reception device of accesssetting information.

(Content of Access Setting Information)

Table 1 below shows a list of information that can be included as accesssetting information. Access setting information includes at least any ofthe information shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Item Example for item Information regarding a target device ofID of destination device of this information present information Radionetwork temporary identifier (RNTI) of the destination device of thisinformation Information indicating allocated Type of resource blockorthogonal resources Type of subcarrier Type of (orthogonal) frequencyhopping pattern Type of subframe Information regarding allocation ofFlag indicating allocation or non-allocation of non-orthogonal resourcesnon-orthogonal resources Flag indicating that information indicatingnon-orthogonal resources is notified on another control channel Electricpower level of a control channel including information indicatingnon-orthogonal resources (for example, a ratio with respect to anelectric power level of a control channel including informationindicating orthogonal resources, a ratio with respect to an electricpower level of a reference signal, or the like) Information indicatingallocated Type of spreading code non-orthogonal resources Type of sparsecode Type of antenna (antenna port) Type of space stream Type ofprecoder Type of interleaver Type of electric power level Type of errorcorrection code Type of (non-orthogonal) frequency hopping patternInformation regarding a modulation BPSK, QPSK, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, 256 QAM,etc. scheme and coding rate used for allocated Coding rates of 1/2, 2/3,3/4, 4/5, 5/6, 6/7, 7/8, etc. orthogonal resources and non-orthogonalIndex indicating a pattern of a combination of a modulation scheme andresources a coding rate (channel quality indicator (CQI)) Informationregarding HARQ Flag of re-transmission or first transmission Chasecombining or incremental redundancy flag Redundancy version (RV) HARQprocess ID Information regarding a data size Frame (packet) data sizetransmitted or received using allocated Transport Block Size (TBS) Indexorthogonal resources and non-orthogonal Modulation and Coding Set (MCS)Index resources Direction of communication link Flag indicating downlinkor uplink Transmit Power Control (TPC) command Path loss compensationfactor MCS-or CQI-dependent factor Offset Factor Information regardinganother device Presence or absence of another multiplexing devicemultiplexing with non-orthogonal ID of another multiplexing deviceresources Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) of anothermultiplexing device

(Method of Access Setting Information Notification)

Various notification methods for notifying the base station 200 and theterminal device 300 of access setting information are considered. Thus,variation in methods of access setting information notification will bedescribed. Description will be provided below on the assumption that anotification source of access setting information is the base station200 and a notification destination is the terminal device 300; however,a notification source and a notification destination may be arbitrarydevices.

(1) Batch Notification of Access Setting Information for Devices

In the present notification method, the base station 200 transmitsaccess setting information to each device in a batch. The terminaldevice 300 receives the access setting information transmitted to itselfin a batch through the process shown in FIG. 24. FIG. 24 is a flowchartshowing an example of the flow of an access setting informationreception process executed by the terminal device 300 according to thepresent embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 24, first in Step S1202, the control unit 330 searchesfor whether information addressed to the device itself (the terminaldevice 300) is being transmitted on a control channel.

When information addressed to the device has not been found (No inS1204), the control unit 330 determines in Step S1206 whether or not asearch period has elapsed. When the search period is determined to haveelapsed (Yes in S1206), the process ends. On the other hand, when thesearch period is determined not to have elapsed (No in S1206), theprocess returns to Step S1202 again. Note that, since the controlchannel is generally periodically transmitted, the present flow may beexecuted according to the period.

When the information addressed to the device has been found (Yes inS1204), the control unit 330 reads found information addressed to thedevice in Step S1208. For example, the control unit 330 decodes aportion of the control channel in which the information addressed to thedevice is stored to the final, and reads stored access settinginformation. The access setting information that the control unit 330has read includes, for example, at least any of the information shown inTable 1 above.

Next, in Step S1210, the control unit 330 determines whether or not itis also necessary to read information addressed to another device. Thisdetermination can be performed by referring to, for example,“information regarding another device multiplexing with non-orthogonalresources” included in the access setting information addressed to thedevice itself. For example, when there is another device multiplexingnon-orthogonally, the control unit 330 determines that it is alsonecessary to read information addressed to the other device. In order toperform this determination easily and at a requisite minimum, it isdesirable that a specific ID or RNTI regarding a multiplexing device beincluded in access setting information. In the present embodiment, thereis a possibility of signals addressed to a plurality of terminal devices300 being multiplexed on non-orthogonal resources. When such signals aretransmitted or received, it is desirable for a reception device to knowaccess setting information for another reception device to bemultiplexed on non-orthogonal resources. This is particularlyadvantageous for the terminal device 300 to receive non-orthogonallymultiplexed signals.

When reading the information addressed to another device is determinednot to be necessary (No in S1210), the process ends.

On the other hand, when reading the information addressed to anotherdevice is determined to be necessary (Yes in S1210), The control unit330 searches in Step S1212 for whether information addressed to anotherdevice (another terminal device 300) is being transmitted on the controlchannel.

When the information addressed to another device has not been found (Noin Step S1214), the control unit 330 determines in Step S1216 whether ornot a search period has elapsed. When the search period is determined tohave elapsed (Yes in S1216), the process ends. On the other hand, whenthe search period is determined not to have elapsed (No in S1216), theprocess returns to Step S1212 again. This search period may be the sameas or different from that of Step S1206 above.

When the information addressed to another device has been found (Yes inS1204), the control unit 330 reads the found information addressed toanother device in Step S1218. For example, the control unit 330 decodesthe portion of the control channel in which the information addressed toanother device is stored to the final, and reads information of thecontent. The information that the control unit 330 reads includes, forexample, at least any of the information shown in Table 1 above.

(2) Notification of Access Setting Information to Each Device in Stages

In the present notification method, each device is notified of accesssetting information in a plurality of stages. For example, accesssetting information including information regarding orthogonal resources(for example, frequency resources or time resources) and access settinginformation including information regarding non-orthogonal resources(spreading codes, antennas, space streams, electric power levels,interleave, frequency hopping, error correction codes, or the like) canbe separately notified.

According to the present notification method, a device which iscompatible with a multiple access scheme using non-orthogonal resourcescan read information regarding non-orthogonal resources, and a devicewhich is not compatible with the multiple access scheme usingnon-orthogonal resources can omit reading of the information regardingnon-orthogonal resources. For this reason, the present notificationmethod is useful for maintaining compatibility when devices which arecompatible or incompatible with the multiple access scheme usingnon-orthogonal resources.

The base station 200 transmits access setting information to each devicein a plurality of stages. The terminal device 300 gradually receives theaccess setting information transmitted to itself in a plurality ofstages. For example, the terminal device 300 performs processes in StepsS1208 and S1218 according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 25 whilereceiving the access setting information according to the flowchartshown in FIG. 24 above. FIG. 25 is the flowchart showing an example ofthe flow of an access setting information reception process executed inthe terminal device 300 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 25, first in Step S1302, the control unit 330 reads theinformation. The information read here includes, for example,information regarding orthogonal resources and other information.

Next, in Step S1304, the control unit 330 determines whether or notthere is more information to be read. The more information to be readincludes, for example, information regarding non-orthogonal resourcesand other information. For example, the control unit 330 determines thatthere is more information to be read when the device itself correspondsto the multiple access scheme using non-orthogonal resources and the“flag indicating allocation or non-allocation of non-orthogonalresources” is a flag indicating allocation.

When it is determined that there is no more information to be read (Noin S1304), the process ends.

On the other hand, when it is determined that there is more informationto be read (Yes in S1304), the control unit 330 searches for whethermore information to be read is being transmitted on a control channel inStep S1306.

When no more information to be read has not been found (No in S1308),the control unit 330 determines whether or not a search period haselapsed in Step S1310. When the search period is determined to haveelapsed (Yes in S1310), the process ends. On the other hand, when thesearch period is determined not to have elapsed (No in S1310), theprocess returns to Step S1306 again.

On the other hand, when more information to be read has been found (Yesin S1308), the control unit 330 reads the found information to be readin Step S1312. For example, the control unit 330 decodes the portion ofthe control channel in which the more information to be read is storedto the final, and reads information of the content.

(3) Batch Notification of Access Setting Information to all Devices

The present notification method is to notify all devices of accesssetting information in a batch. For example, all devices are notified ofthe list of access setting information indicating access settingsallocated to the respective devices. As an example, the presentnotification method will be described with reference to FIG. 26.

FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram for describing the access settinginformation notification process according to the present embodiment. Inthe example shown in FIG. 26, one piece of access setting information isstored in an area which includes one time resource and one frequencyresource (which will also be referred to as, for example, a resourceelement or a resource block). In addition, all access settinginformation is stored on a control channel. Each device performs signalprocessing using access setting information of an area among areas inwhich its own identification information (user ID) is written. Notethat, in the example shown in FIG. 26, access setting informationincludes user IDs, time indexes, frequency indexes, space indexes,electric power indexes, and interleaver indexes. These indexescorrespond to information indicating allocated orthogonal resources orallocated non-orthogonal resources shown in Table 1. The access settinginformation can also include other information shown in Table 1.

A merit of the present notification method is that, if the total numberof orthogonal resources and non-orthogonal resources is decided, theamount of control channels for carrying the information can also besubstantially fixed. In other words, unlike other notification methods,the present notification method can suppress increase of the amount ofcontrol channels according to increase of the number of users. However,since access setting information can overlap between users, there is apossibility of overhead being relatively large particularly when thenumber of users is small. In addition, in order to know what resourceshave been allocated to a reading device or other devices, the deviceitself has to read all access setting information and refer to user IDs.An example of an access setting information notification processrelating to the present notification method will be described withreference to FIG. 27.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an accesssetting information reception process executed by the terminal device300 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 27, first in Step S1402, the control unit 330 findsaccess setting information in which its own user ID is written.Accordingly, the control unit can preferentially read access settinginformation for the device itself. Of course, the control unit 330 mayfind access setting information in which the user ID of another terminaldevice 300 is written and set the information as a reading target. Thefollowing steps may be performed in a random order.

Next, in Step S1404, the control unit 330 reads a time index, afrequency index, a space index, an electric power index, and aninterleaver index included in the access setting information.

Next, in Step S1406, the control unit 330 reads information regarding amodulation scheme and a coding rate included in the access settinginformation.

Next, in Step S1408, the control unit 330 reads information regarding aHARQ included in the access setting information.

Next, in Step S1410, the control unit 330 reads information regarding adata size included in the access setting information.

Next, in Step S1412, the control unit 330 reads information indicating acommunication link direction included in the access setting information.

Next, in Step S1414, the control unit 330 reads information indicating atransmit power control command included in the access settinginformation.

<3.5. Channel Configuration>

An example of a channel configuration according to the presentembodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 28 to 32.Horizontal axes of each drawing mean orthogonal resources (for example,frequency, time, etc.) and vertical axes thereof mean non-orthogonalresources. When frequencies are considered as orthogonal resources, theorthogonal resources may be subcarriers or resource blocks, or may becomponent carriers (CC) of when carrier aggregation (CA) is applied.FIGS. 28 to 32 show arrangements of information regarding orthogonalresources and non-orthogonal resources allocated to each device (thebase station 200 or the terminal device 300) stored in a controlchannel. Note that the information regarding orthogonal resources isinformation which includes an access scheme using the orthogonalresources and information indicating the orthogonal resources used inthe access scheme. In addition, the information regarding non-orthogonalresources is information which includes an access scheme using thenon-orthogonal resources and information indicating the non-orthogonalresources used in the access scheme.

FIG. 28 is a diagram for describing an example of an arrangement of acontrol channel and a data channel according to the present embodiment.In the example illustrated in FIG. 28, information regarding orthogonalresources and information regarding non-orthogonal resources areincluded in the same control channel 610. In addition, the controlchannel 610 and the data channel 611 are multiplexed using resourcesorthogonal to each other. In the present arrangement example, thearrangement of the control channel is in a form resembling, for example,general LTE.

As will be described with reference to FIGS. 29 to 32 below, theinformation regarding orthogonal resources and the information regardingnon-orthogonal resources may be included in different control channels.In such a case, different control channels have at least eitherdifferent times or different frequencies, and have predeterminedrelations with data channels as will be described below.

FIG. 29 is a diagram for describing an example of an arrangement ofcontrol channels and a data channel according to the present embodiment.In the example illustrated in FIG. 29, the control channel 620 whichincludes information regarding orthogonal resources and the controlchannel 621 which includes information regarding non-orthogonalresources are multiplexed using resources orthogonal to each other. Inaddition, the control channels 620 and 621 and the data channel 622 aremultiplexed using resources orthogonal to each other. The presentarrangement example is useful when each device is notified of accesssetting information in stages. According to the present arrangementexample, since there is basically no interference between the channels,it is possible to avoid deteriorating accuracy in decoding. In addition,according to the present arrangement example, the communication system 1can accommodate a legacy device that is not compatible with a multipleaccess scheme using non-orthogonal resources. In addition, according tothe present arrangement example, since the control channel 620 and thecontrol channel 621 are in an orthogonal relation, a legacy device thatis not compatible with a multiple access scheme using non-orthogonalresources can read information regarding orthogonal resources withoutproblem.

FIG. 30 is a diagram for describing an example of an arrangement ofcontrol channels and a data channel according to the present embodiment.In the example illustrated in FIG. 30, the control channel 630 whichincludes information regarding orthogonal resources and the controlchannel 631 which includes information regarding non-orthogonalresources are multiplexed using resources orthogonal to each other. Inaddition, the control channel 630 is multiplexed with the data channel632 using resources orthogonal to each other. In addition, the controlchannel 631 is multiplexed with the data channel 632 using resources atleast orthogonal or non-orthogonal to each other. Since the controlchannel 630 which includes the information regarding non-orthogonalresources is information that is read by a device which is compatiblewith a multiple access scheme using non-orthogonal resources, thecontrol channel 630 and the data channel 632 may be non-orthogonallymultiplexed. In addition, according to the present arrangement example,since the control channel 630 and the control channel 631 are in anorthogonal relation, a legacy device that is not compatible with amultiple access scheme using non-orthogonal resources can read theinformation regarding orthogonal resources without problem.

FIG. 31 is a diagram for describing an example of an arrangement ofcontrol channels and a data channel according to the present embodiment.In the example illustrated in FIG. 31, the control channel 640 whichincludes information regarding orthogonal resources and the controlchannel 641 which includes information regarding non-orthogonalresources are multiplexed using resources non-orthogonal to each otheron the same orthogonal resources. In addition, the control channels 640and 641 are multiplexed with the data channel 642 using resourcesorthogonal to each other. According to the present arrangement example,the control channel 640 and the control channel 641 can interfere witheach other. For this reason, although a result of reading the controlchannel 640 by a legacy device that is not compatible with a multipleaccess scheme using non-orthogonal resources can deteriorate, it is notnecessary to change a decoding mechanism.

FIG. 32 is a diagram for describing an example of an arrangement ofcontrol channels and a data channel according to the present embodiment.In the example illustrated in FIG. 32, the control channel 650 whichincludes information regarding orthogonal resources and the data channel652 are multiplexed using resources orthogonal to each other. Inaddition, the control channel 651 which includes information regardingnon-orthogonal resources and the control channel 650 are multiplexedusing resources at least orthogonal or non-orthogonal to each other. Inaddition, the control channel 651 and the data channel 652 aremultiplexed using resources at least orthogonal or non-orthogonal toeach other.

As an example of the non-orthogonal resources of the vertical axes inFIGS. 28 to 32, an electric power level is exemplified. In this case,different electric power levels can be allocated to the control channelswhich include information regarding orthogonal resources, controlchannels which include information regarding non-orthogonal resources,and data channels. Since the control channels are important foraccurately decoding the subsequent data channels (not necessarilyimmediately subsequent thereto), electric power levels can be adjustedto enable the control channels to be appropriately decoded first. Notethat a magnitude relation of electric power levels allocated torespective channels may coincide with or may be different from themagnitude relations shown in FIGS. 28 to 32.

Here, levels or unit densities of electric power allocated totransmission of respective control channels and data channels may have apredetermined magnitude relation as described below. P_(CCH0) indicatesa level or a unit density of electric power of a control channel whichincludes information regarding orthogonal resources and informationregarding non-orthogonal resources. P_(CCH1) indicates a level or a unitdensity of electric power of a control channel which includesinformation regarding orthogonal resources. P_(CCH2) indicates a levelor a unit density of electric power of a control channel which includesinformation regarding non-orthogonal resources. In addition, P_(SCH)indicates a level or a unit density of electric power of a data channelper unit, and when a plurality of pieces of data are non-orthogonallymultiplexed, indicates a level or a unit density of electric power ofthe sum of them. Since it is desirable for control channels to bedecodable in terms of a stable system operation, it is desirable tosatisfy the conditions of the following expression as magnituderelations thereof.P _(CCH0) ≥P _(SCH)P _(CCH1) ≥P _(SCH)P _(SCH) ≥P _(CCH2)P _(CCH1) ≥P _(CCH2)  [Math.31]

Expression 31

As shown by Expression 31 above, a level or a unit density of electricpower allocated to transmission of a control channel which includesinformation regarding orthogonal resources is desirably equal to orhigher than a level or a unit density of electric power allocated totransmission of a data channel. In addition, as shown by Expression 31above, a level or a unit density of electric power allocated totransmission of a control channel which includes information regardingorthogonal resources is desirably equal to or higher than a level or aunit density of electric power allocated to transmission of a controlchannel which includes information regarding non-orthogonal resources.

Furthermore, although not illustrated, a level or a unit density ofelectric power is considered by being divided into electric power of adata channel transmitted using orthogonal resources P_(SCH,O) andelectric power of a data channel transmitted using non-orthogonalresources P_(SCH,NO), it is desirable to satisfy the conditions of thefollowing expression.P _(CCH0) ≥P _(SCH,O)P _(CCH0) ≥P _(SCH,NO)P _(CCH1) ≥P _(SCH,O)P _(CCH1) ≥P _(SCH,NO)P _(SCH,O) ≥P _(CCH2)P _(CCH2) ≥P _(SCH,NO)  [Math.32]

Expression 32

<3.6. Capability Information>

(Content of Capability Information)

Table 2 below shows an example of capability information.

TABLE 2 3G 4G SCMA User ((Spreading) ((Orthogonal) SDMA IDMA SPC RSMA((Sparse) ID Code) Frequency) (Space) (Interleaver) (Power) (Rate)Codebook) 0 OK OK OK OK OK NG NG

As shown in Table 2 above, capability information includes informationindicating whether or not a device is compatible with each of orthogonalresources and non-orthogonal resources. For example, capabilityinformation can include information indicating whether a device iscompatible (OK) or incompatible (NG) with each access scheme. Theinformation may be realized as bit flags. In addition, capabilityinformation can include a user IDs as identification information of adevice itself. The terminal device 300 specifies each base station 200or terminal device 30 using a user ID, and thereby knows with whataccess scheme the specified device is compatible. Note that “3G” and“4G” in Table 2 above can also be understood as legacy RATs.

(Notification of Capability Information)

An example of the procedure of notification of capability informationwill be described below with reference to FIG. 33.

FIG. 33 is a sequence diagram showing the example of the flow of acapability information notification process executed in thecommunication system 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown inFIG. 33, the terminal device 300, the base station 200, and thecommunication control device 100 are involved in the present sequence.

The processes relating to Steps S1502 to S1510 shown in FIG. 33 are aprocedure for establishing radio resource control (RRC) connection.Specifically, in Step S1502, the terminal device 300 transmits a randomaccess preamble to the base station 200. The base station 200 which hassucceeded in receiving the random access preamble transmits a randomaccess response to the terminal device 300 in Step S1504. Through thisstep, the base station 200 recognizes the terminal device 300. Next, inStep S1506, the terminal device 300 transmits an RRC connection requestmessage to the base station 200. The base station 200 which hassucceeded in receiving the RRC connection request message transmits anRRC connection setup message to the terminal device 300 in Step S1508.The terminal device 300 sets a parameter according to setup informationincluded in the RRC connection setup message received from the basestation 200, and then transmits an RRC connection setup completionmessage to the base station 200 in Step S1510.

Through the procedures of random access and RRC connection describedabove, capability information may be transmitted from the terminaldevice 300 and received by the base station 200. For example, theterminal device 300 may transmit a message dedicated to notifying thebase station 200 of the capability information. In addition, theterminal device 300 may include the capability information in at leastany of the messages transmitted to the base station 200 in the procedurerelating to Steps S1502 to S1510 above. Specifically, the terminaldevice 300 may include the capability information in at least any of therandom access preamble, the RRC connection request message, any the RRCconnection setup message. In this case, overhead can be reduced morethan when the capability information is transmitted using a dedicatedmessage. The reason is that there is a possibility of the capabilityinformation being settled with several bits as shown in Table 2 above.

Next, in Step S1512, the base station 200 transmits capabilityinformation to the communication control device 100. At this time, thebase station 200 transmits the capability information received from theterminal device 300. In addition, the base station 200 may transmit itsown capability information to the communication control device 100.

Next, in Step S1514, the communication control device 100 transmits areception completion response to the base station 200. The communicationcontrol device 100 may share the capability information collected inStep S1512 above with another communication control device on a corenetwork or another network. In this case, in the procedure of cellselection and handover to be described below, the capability informationcan be used more effectively.

Table 3 below shows an example of capability information collected froma plurality of devices.

TABLE 3 User ID 3G 4G SDMA IDMA SPC RSMA SCMA 0 OK OK OK NG OK NG NG 1OK OK OK NG NG OK NG 2 OK OK NG OK NG OK NG 3 OK OK NG OK NG NG OK 4 OKOK OK OK OK OK OK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It is desirable for the terminal device 300 to store the capabilityinformation collected in Step S1512 above with the user ID. Here, as anentity functioning as the terminal device 300 on the core network, forexample, a mobility management entity (MME) is exemplified. Since an MMEhas a function of controlling cell selection and handover of theterminal device 300, it is useful for retaining capability informationof the plurality of devices shown in Table 3. In addition, the basestation 200 may retain the capability information of the terminal device300 which belongs to the cell operated by the base station.

As described above, the base station 200 may notify the communicationcontrol device 100 of its own capability information. Table 4 belowshows an example of the capability information of the base station 200.

TABLE 4 Cell ID 3G 4G SDMA IDMA SPC RSMA SCMA 0 OK OK OK NG OK NG NG 1OK OK OK NG NG OK NG 2 OK OK NG OK NG OK NG 3 OK OK NG OK NG NG OK 4 OKOK OK OK OK OK OK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As shown in Table 4, the capability information of the base station 200may be in the same form as the capability information of the terminaldevice 300 shown in Table 3 above, and a cell ID may be used asidentification information.

In addition, the base station 200 may notify the communication controldevice 100 of status information indicating what access scheme is beingcurrently used, in addition to its own capability information. Table 5below shows an example of the status information of the base station200.

TABLE 5 Cell ID 3G 4G SDMA IDMA SPC RSMA SCMA 0 Enabled DisabledDisabled Disabled Enabled Disabled Disabled 1 Disabled Enabled EnabledDisabled Disabled Enabled Disabled 2 Disabled Enabled Disabled DisabledDisabled Disabled Disabled 3 Disabled Enabled Disabled Enabled DisabledDisabled Enabled 4 Disabled Enabled Enabled Enabled Disabled EnabledDisabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Table 5, an access scheme that is currently being used is marked with“Enabled” and an access scheme that is currently not being used ismarked with “Disabled.” As shown in Table 5 above, the statusinformation can include information indicating each access scheme beingused (Enabled) or not being used (Disabled). The information may berealized as bit flags.

(Procedure in which Capability Information is Used)

Next, a procedure in which capability information is used will bedescribed. As an example of the procedure, the procedure of handover andthe procedure of admission control using capability information will bedescribed. As will be described below, the communication control device100 or the base station 200 uses capability information of the terminaldevice 300 in the procedure of handover of the terminal device 300 orthe procedure of admission control. In addition, the communicationcontrol device 100 or the base station 200 further uses capabilityinformation of the base station 200 that is a handover destinationcandidate in the procedure of handover of the terminal device 300 or theprocedure of admission control.

FIG. 34 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system 1 according to thepresent embodiment. As shown in FIG. 34, the terminal device 300, basestations 200A and 200B, and the communication control device 100 areinvolved in the present sequence. Note that the base station 200A is abase station serving as a handover source (for example, a source eNB),and the base station 200B is a base station serving as a handoverdestination candidate (for example, a target eNB).

First, in Step S1602, the terminal device 300 performs measurement. Forexample, the terminal device 300 receives, for example, a predeterminedreference signal, broadcast signal, synchronizing signal, or the likeperiodically transmitted from the base station 200. At this time, theterminal device 300 measures a signal intensity (for example, ReferenceSignal Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI),or the like), signal quality (for example, Reference Signal ReceivedQuality (RSRQ), and the like), and the like.

Next, in Step S1604, the terminal device 300 transmits the measurementinformation to the base station 200A to which the device is beingconnected or which is operating a cell to which the device belongs. Theterminal device 300 performs the transmission in a periodic manner oraccording to an instruction from the base station 200A.

Next, in Step S1606, the base station 200A checks the measurementinformation. For example, when the measurement information meets apredetermined condition, the base station 200A starts a process ofchecking feasibility of handover that will be described below.

Next, in Step S1608, the base station 200A transmits a handover trigger(Handover Required) to the communication control device 100.

Next, in Step S1610, the communication control device 100 checks thecapability information. For example, when the communication controldevice 100 collates the capability information of the terminal device300 and a base station 200 relating to handover of the terminal device300 and the information meets a predetermined condition, thecommunication control device starts a process of transiting to executionof handover that will be described below. In addition to the capabilityinformation, the communication control device 100 may refer to statusinformation of the base station 200 relating to the handover. As thebase station 200 relating to the handover, the base station 200A that isa handover source to which the terminal device 300 currently belongs andthe base station 200B which is a handover destination candidateoperating a cell. Note that details of the process of this step will bedescribed below.

Next, in Step S1612, the communication control device 100 transmits ahandover request (Handover Request) to the base station 200B which is ahandover destination candidate. Further, when an access settingallocated to the base station 200B is to be changed, the communicationcontrol device 100 transmits an access setting change request which is amessage indicating a change of allocation of the access setting to thebase station 200B. For example, the communication control device 100 canchange the access setting so that the access setting, which is usable bythe terminal device 300 but is not currently being used by the basestation 200B, can be newly used. The access setting change request caninclude, for example, post-change access setting information. The basestation 200B can know an access scheme and resources to start using andan access scheme and resources to stop using, by referring to the accesssetting change request.

Next, in Step S1614, the base station 200B performs admission control(Admission Control). For example, the base station 200B determineswhether or not acceptance of handover and a change of the access settingare possible. At this time, the base station 200B can determine thepossibility of handover according to the result of the changepossibility determination of the access setting. Note that details ofthe process of this step will be described below. When the base station200B determines acceptance of handover and a change of the accesssetting to be possible, for example, the base station starts a processof executing handover that will be described below.

The communication control device 100 receives a message indicating theresult of the change possibility determination of the access setting ofthe base station 200B that is for the access setting change request. Forexample, when acceptance of handover and the change of the accesssetting are determined to be possible, for example, the base station200B transmits a message indicating approval for the handover request tothe communication control device 100 in Step S1616. The messageindicating approval for the handover request may also serve as a messageindicating approval for the access setting change request.

Next, in Step S1618, the communication control device 100 transmits ahandover command (Handover Command) to the base station 200A.

Next, in Step S1620, the base station 200A transmits a handover commandand an RRC connection resetting command (RRC connection reconfiguration)to the terminal device 300.

Here, if the base station 200A supports so-called seamless handover anddata remains to be transmitted and received, the base station 200Atransfers the remaining data to the base station 200B in Step S1622.

Next, in Step S1624, the terminal device 300 transmits a random accesspreamble to the base station 200B. The base station 200B which hassucceeded in receiving the random access preamble transmits a randomaccess response to the terminal device 300 in Step S1626. Next, in StepS1628, the terminal device 300 performs a resetting of RRC connection(RRC connection reconfiguration), and transmits a message of RRCconnection resetting completion (RRC connection reconfigurationcomplete) to the base station 200B. Accordingly, handover is completed,and continuation of the communication service starts.

As described above, the terminal device 300 may transmit a messagededicated to notifying the base station 200B of capability information.In addition, the terminal device 300 may include capability informationin at least any of the random access preamble and the message of RRCconnection resetting completion. Note that when a base station 200manages capability information, it is desirable that notification of thecapability information be made each time a connection destination of theterminal device 300 changes, i.e., each time handover occurs.

Next, in Step S1630, the base station 200B transmits the capabilityinformation received from the terminal device 300 to the communicationcontrol device 100. In addition, the base station 200B may transmit itsown capability information and status information to the communicationcontrol device 100.

Next, in Step S1632, the communication control device 100 transmits areception completion response to the base station 200B.

Although the example in which the communication control device 100checks the capability information in Step S1610 has been describedabove, the present technology is not limited thereto. For example, abase station 200 may check the capability information. In addition,although the example in which the base station 200B performs admissioncontrol in Step S1614 has been described above, the present technologyis not limited thereto. For example, the communication control device100 may perform admission control. As an example, a case in which a basestation 200 checks capability information will be described withreference to FIG. 35.

FIG. 35 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system 1 according to thepresent embodiment. As shown in FIG. 35, the terminal device 300, basestations 200A and 200B, and the communication control device 100 areinvolved in the present sequence. Note that the base station 200A is abase station serving as a handover source (for example, a source eNB),and the base station 200B is a base station serving as a handoverdestination candidate (for example, a target eNB).

First, in Step S1702, the terminal device 300 performs measurement.Next, in Step S1704, the terminal device 300 transmits measurementinformation to the base station 200A. Next, in Step S1706, the basestation 200A checks the measurement information.

Then, in Step S1708, the base station 200A checks capabilityinformation. The base station 200A may refer to status information of abase stations 200 relating to handover, in addition to the capabilityinformation.

Next, in Step S1710, the base station 200A transmits a handover requestto the base station 200B serving as a handover destination candidate.Further, the base station 200A transmits an access setting changerequest to the base station 200B when a change of an access setting isto be requested.

Next, in Step S1712, the base station 200B performs admission control.When acceptance of handover and a change of an access setting aredetermined to be possible, the base station 200B transmits a messageindicating approval for the handover request to the base station 200A inStep S1714. Since the processes of the following Steps S1716 to S1724,S1728, and S1730 are the same as those of Steps S1620 to S1632 describedwith reference to FIG. 34, description thereof will be omitted herein.In addition to the processes of Steps S1620 to S1632 described withreference to FIG. 34, the base station 200B transmits a handover statusreport indicating a handover result to the communication control device100 in Step S1726.

Although the example in which the predetermined condition is determinedto be met through checking of capability information and the process oftransiting to execution of handover is started has been describe inFIGS. 34 and 35 above, the converse example will be described below.

FIG. 36 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system 1 according to thepresent embodiment. As shown in FIG. 36, the terminal device 300, thebase stations 200A and 200B, and the communication control device 100are involved in the present sequence. The present sequence correspondsto the sequence shown in FIG. 34.

Since the processes of Steps S1802 to S1810 are the same as those ofSteps S1602 to S1610 described with reference to FIG. 34, descriptionthereof will be omitted. Upon determining a predetermined condition notto be met as a result of checking capability information in Step S1810,the communication control device 100 starts a process of rejectinghandover that will be described below. For example, when access schemesand resources with which the terminal device 300 is compatible do notoverlap access schemes and resources with which the base station 200B iscompatible, the communication control device 100 starts the process ofrejecting handover.

In Step S1812, the communication control device 100 first transmits amessage indicating rejection of handover to the base station 200A. Thebase station 200A which has received the message does not transmit ahandover command to the terminal device 300. Instead, the base station200A may transmit, for example, a message indicating rejection ofhandover to the terminal device 300 in Step S1814.

FIG. 37 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system 1 according to thepresent embodiment. As shown in FIG. 37, the terminal device 300 and thebase station 200A are involved in the present sequence. The presentsequence corresponds to the sequence shown in FIG. 35.

Since the processes of Steps S1902 to S1908 are the same as those ofSteps S1702 to S1708 described with reference to FIG. 35, descriptionthereof will be omitted. Upon determining a predetermined condition notto be met as a result of checking capability information in Step S1908,the base station 200A rejects handover. For example, the base station200A does not transmit a handover command to the terminal device 300.Instead, the base station 200A may transmit, for example, a messageindicating rejection of handover to the terminal device 300 in StepS1910.

In addition, although the example in which the acceptance of handoverand a change of an access setting are determined to be possible and theprocess of transiting to execution of handover is started in admissioncontrol has been describe in FIGS. 34 and 35 above, the converse examplewill be described below.

FIG. 38 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system 1 according to thepresent embodiment. As shown in FIG. 36, the terminal device 300, thebase stations 200A and 200B, and the communication control device 100are involved in the present sequence. The present sequence correspondsto the sequence shown in FIG. 38.

Since the processes of Steps S2002 to S2014 are the same as those ofSteps S1602 to S1614 described with reference to FIG. 34, descriptionthereof will be omitted. When the base station 200B determinesacceptance of handover and a change of an access setting are notpossible in admission control of Step S2014, the base station starts aprocess of rejecting handover to be described below.

In Step S2016, the base station 200B first transmits a messageindicating rejection of the handover request to the communicationcontrol device 100. The message indicating rejection of the handoverrequest also serves as a message indicating rejection of the accesssetting change request. Then, in Steps S2018 and S2020, the sameprocesses as those of Steps S1812 and S1814 described with reference toFIG. 36 are performed.

FIG. 39 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the flow of ahandover process executed in the communication system 1 according to thepresent embodiment. As shown in FIG. 39, the terminal device 300 and thebase stations 200A and 200B are involved in the present sequence. Thepresent sequence corresponds to the sequence shown in FIG. 35.

Since the processes of Steps S2102 to S2112 are the same as those ofSteps S1702 to S1712 described with reference to FIG. 35, descriptionthereof will be omitted. When the base station 200B determinesacceptance of handover and a change of an access setting are notpossible in admission control of Step S2112, the base station starts aprocess of rejecting handover to be described below.

First, in Step S2114, the base station 200B transmits a messageindicating rejection of the handover request to the base station 200A.Then, in Step S2116, the same process as that of Step S1910 describedwith reference to FIG. 37 is performed.

Details of the processes of checking capability information andadmission control described in FIGS. 34 to 39 will be described below.

FIG. 40 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the capabilityinformation checking process executed by the communication controldevice 100 according to the present embodiment. Note that, as describedabove, a base station 200 can also check capability information. In thiscase, the base station 200 is assumed to perform the same process asthat described below.

As shown in FIG. 40, first, the control unit 130 checks capabilityinformation of the terminal device 300 and the base station 200 that isa handover destination candidate in Step S2202.

When the terminal device 300 supports only a legacy RAT (Yes in S2204),the control unit 130 determines in Step S2206 whether or not the basestation 200 serving as a handover destination candidate supports thelegacy RAT. When the terminal device 300 supports others rather than thelegacy RAT (No in S2204) and there is no RAT other than the legacy RATwhich is supported by the terminal device 300 and the base station 200serving as a handover destination candidate together (No in S2216), thecontrol unit 130 performs the same determination.

When the base station 200 serving as a handover destination candidatesupports the legacy RAT (Yes in S2206), the control unit 130 determinesthat handover is approved in Step S2208. Then, in Step S2210, thecontrol unit 130 decides to notify the base station 200 serving as ahandover destination of a handover request.

On the other hand, when the base station 200 serving as a handoverdestination candidate does not support the legacy RAT (No in S2206), thecontrol unit 130 determines that handover is rejected in Step S2212.Then, in Step S2214, the control unit 130 decides to notify a basestation 200 serving as a handover source of a message indicating thathandover is rejected.

In addition, when the terminal device 300 does not support only thelegacy RAT (No in S2204) and there is an RAT other than the legacy RATwhich is supported by the terminal device 300 and the base station 200serving as a handover destination candidate together (Yes in S2216), thecontrol unit 130 determines that handover is approved in Step S2218,Then, in Step S2220, the control unit 130 determines whether or not thebase station 200 serving as a handover destination is currentlyoperating an RAT that the terminal device 300 supports with reference tostatus information of the base station 200.

When the base station is determined to be currently operating the RAT(Yes in S2220), the control unit 130 decides to notify the base station200 serving as a handover destination of a handover request.

On the other hand, when the base station is determined not to becurrently operating the RAT (No in S2220), the control unit 130 decidesto notify the base station 200 serving as a handover destination of ahandover request and an access setting change request.

FIG. 41 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the admissioncontrol process executed in the base station 200 according to thepresent embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 41, the control unit 240 first determines whether ornot there is a vacancy for the number of terminals that can beaccommodated in a cell that the base station operates.

When it is determined that there is a vacancy (Yes in S2302), thecontrol unit 240 determines that a handover request is approved in StepS2304.

Next, in Step S2306, the control unit 240 determines whether or not anaccess setting change request can be approved. For example, the controlunit 240 determines whether or not the request can be approved, takinginfluence of other terminal device 300 that have already been connectingto its own cell when an access scheme to be used in its own cell ischanged according to the access setting change request and resources tobe used in the access scheme used in its own cell are changed intoconsideration. Note that, when the base station 200 has not received theaccess setting change request, the present step may be skipped.

When the request is determined to be approved (Yes in S2306), thecontrol unit 240 determines that the access setting change request isapproved in Step S2308. Then, in Step S2310, the control unit 240decides to give notification of the approval for the handover requestand the approval for the access setting change request. The control unit240 may give the notification by including the approval for the handoverrequest and the approval for the access setting change request in onemessage, or using separate messages.

On the other hand, when the request is determined not to be approved (Noin S2306), the control unit 240 determines that the access settingchange request is rejected in Step S2312. Then, in Step S2314, thecontrol unit 240 decides to give notification of a message indicatingthe approval for the handover request and rejection of the accesssetting change request. The control unit 240 may give the notificationby including the approval for the handover request and rejection of theaccess setting change request in one message, or using separatemessages.

In addition, when it is determined that there is no vacancy in thenumber of terminals that can be accommodated in the cell that the basestation operates (No in S2302), the control unit 240 determines that thehandover request is rejected in Step S2316. Then, in Step S2318, thecontrol unit 240 decides to give notification of a message indicatingrejection of the handover request.

4. Application Examples

The technology of the present disclosure is applicable to variousproducts. For example, the communication control device 100 may berealized as any type of server such as a tower server, a rack server,and a blade server. At least a part of elements of the communicationcontrol device 100 may be realized in a module (such as an integratedcircuit module including a single die, and a card or a blade that isinserted into a slot of a blade server) mounted on a server.

For example, a base station 200 may be realized as any type of evolvedNode B (eNB) such as a macro eNB, and a small eNB. A small eNB may be aneNB that covers a cell smaller than a macro cell, such as a pico eNB,micro eNB, or home (femto) eNB. Instead, the base station 200 may berealized as any other types of base stations such as a NodeB and a basetransceiver station (BTS). The base station 200 may include a main body(that is also referred to as a base station device) configured tocontrol radio communication, and one or more remote radio heads (RRH)disposed in a different place from the main body. Additionally, varioustypes of terminals to be discussed later may also operate as the basestation 100 by temporarily or semi-permanently executing a base stationfunction. Furthermore, at least some of constituent elements of the basestation 200 may be realized in the base station device or a module for abase station device.

For example, a terminal device 300 may be realized as a mobile terminalsuch as a smartphone, a tablet personal computer (PC), a notebook PC, aportable game terminal, a portable/dongle type mobile router, and adigital camera, or an in-vehicle terminal such as a car navigationdevice. The terminal device 300 may also be realized as a terminal (thatis also referred to as a machine type communication (MTC) terminal) thatperforms machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. Furthermore, at least apart of elements of the terminal device 300 may be realized in a module(such as an integrated circuit module including a single die) mounted oneach of the terminals.

<4.1. Application Example Regarding a Communication Control Device>

FIG. 42 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematicconfiguration of a server 700 to which the technology of the presentdisclosure may be applied. The server 700 includes a processor 701, amemory 702, a storage 703, a network interface 704, and a bus 706.

The processor 701 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU)or a digital signal processor (DSP), and controls functions of theserver 700. The memory 702 includes random access memory (RAM) and readonly memory (ROM), and stores a program that is executed by theprocessor 701 and data. The storage 703 may include a storage mediumsuch as a semiconductor memory and a hard disk.

The network interface 704 is a wired communication interface forconnecting the server 700 to a wired communication network 705. Thewired communication network 705 may be a core network such as an EvolvedPacket Core (EPC), or a packet data network (PDN) such as the Internet.

The bus 706 connects the processor 701, the memory 702, the storage 703,and the network interface 704 to each other. The bus 706 may include twoor more buses (such as a high speed bus and a low speed bus) each ofwhich has different speed.

In the server 700 shown in FIG. 42, the communication unit 110, thestorage unit 120, and the control unit 130 described with reference toFIG. 6 may be implemented by the processor 701. As an example, a programfor causing the processor to function as the communication unit 110, thestorage unit 120, and the control unit 130 (i.e., a program for causingthe processor to execute the operations of the communication unit 110,the storage unit 120, and the control unit 130) may be installed in theserver 700, and the processor 701 may execute the program. As anotherexample, a module which includes the processor 701 and the memory 702may be mounted in the server 700 and the module may implement thecommunication unit 110, the storage unit 120, and the control unit 130.In this case, this module may store a program causing the processor tofunction as the communication unit 110, the storage unit 120, and thecontrol unit 130 in the memory 702, and set the processor 701 to executethis program. As described above, the server 700 or the module may beprovided as a device which includes the communication unit 110, thestorage unit 120, and the control unit 130, and the program may beprovided for causing the processor to function as the communication unit110, the storage unit 120, and the control unit 130. In addition, areadable recording medium in which the program is recorded may beprovided.

<4.2. Application Examples Regarding Base Stations>

(First Application Example)

FIG. 43 is a block diagram illustrating a first example of a schematicconfiguration of an eNB to which the technology of the presentdisclosure may be applied. An eNB 800 includes one or more antennas 810and a base station device 820. Each antenna 810 and the base stationdevice 820 may be connected to each other via an RF cable.

Each of the antennas 810 includes a single or multiple antenna elements(such as multiple antenna elements included in an MIMO antenna), and isused for the base station device 820 to transmit and receive radiosignals. The eNB 800 may include the multiple antennas 810, asillustrated in FIG. 43. For example, the multiple antennas 810 may becompatible with multiple frequency bands used by the eNB 800. AlthoughFIG. 43 illustrates the example in which the eNB 800 includes themultiple antennas 810, the eNB 800 may also include a single antenna810.

The base station device 820 includes a controller 821, a memory 822, anetwork interface 823, and a radio communication interface 825.

The controller 821 may be, for example, a CPU or a DSP, and operatesvarious functions of a higher layer of the base station device 820. Forexample, the controller 821 generates a data packet from data in signalsprocessed by the radio communication interface 825, and transfers thegenerated packet via the network interface 823. The controller 821 maybundle data from multiple base band processors to generate the bundledpacket, and transfer the generated bundled packet. The controller 821may have logical functions of performing control such as radio resourcecontrol, radio bearer control, mobility management, admission control,and scheduling. The control may be performed in corporation with an eNBor a core network node in the vicinity. The memory 822 includes RAM andROM, and stores a program that is executed by the controller 821, andvarious types of control data (such as a terminal list, transmissionpower data, and scheduling data).

The network interface 823 is a communication interface for connectingthe base station device 820 to a core network 824. The controller 821may communicate with a core network node or another eNB via the networkinterface 823. In that case, the eNB 800, and the core network node orthe other eNB may be connected to each other through a logical interface(such as an S1 interface and an X2 interface). The network interface 823may also be a wired communication interface or a radio communicationinterface for radio backhaul. If the network interface 823 is a radiocommunication interface, the network interface 823 may use a higherfrequency band for radio communication than a frequency band used by theradio communication interface 825.

The radio communication interface 825 supports any cellularcommunication scheme such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced,and provides radio connection to a terminal positioned in a cell of theeNB 800 via the antenna 810. The radio communication interface 825 maytypically include, for example, a baseband (BB) processor 826 and an RFcircuit 827. The BB processor 826 may perform, for example,encoding/decoding, modulating/demodulating, andmultiplexing/demultiplexing, and performs various types of signalprocessing of layers (such as L1, medium access control (MAC), radiolink control (RLC), and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)). TheBB processor 826 may have a part or all of the above-described logicalfunctions instead of the controller 821. The BB processor 826 may be amemory that stores a communication control program, or a module thatincludes a processor and a related circuit configured to execute theprogram. Updating the program may allow the functions of the BBprocessor 826 to be changed. The module may be a card or a blade that isinserted into a slot of the base station device 820. Alternatively, themodule may also be a chip that is mounted on the card or the blade.Meanwhile, the RF circuit 827 may include, for example, a mixer, afilter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives radio signals viathe antenna 810.

The radio communication interface 825 may include the multiple BBprocessors 826, as illustrated in FIG. 43. For example, the multiple BBprocessors 826 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used bythe eNB 800. The radio communication interface 825 may include themultiple RF circuits 827, as illustrated in FIG. 43. For example, themultiple RF circuits 827 may be compatible with multiple antennaelements. Although FIG. 43 illustrates the example in which the radiocommunication interface 825 includes the multiple BB processors 826 andthe multiple RF circuits 827, the radio communication interface 825 mayalso include a single BB processor 826 or a single RF circuit 827.

In the eNB 800 shown in FIG. 43, the radio communication unit 210, thenetwork communication unit 220, the storage unit 230, and the controlunit 240 described with reference to FIG. 7 may be implemented by theradio communication interface 825. Alternatively, at least some of theseconstituent elements may be implemented by the controller 821. As anexample, a module which includes a part (for example, the BB processor826) or all of the radio communication interface 825 and/or thecontroller 821 may be mounted in eNB 800, and the radio communicationunit 210, the network communication unit 220, the storage unit 230, andthe control unit 240 may be implemented by the module. In this case, themodule may store a program for causing the processor to function as theradio communication unit 210, the network communication unit 220, thestorage unit 230, and the control unit 240 (i.e., a program for causingthe processor to execute operations of the radio communication unit 210,the network communication unit 220, the storage unit 230, and thecontrol unit 240) and may execute the program. As another example, theprogram for causing the processor to function as the radio communicationunit 210, the network communication unit 220, the storage unit 230, andthe control unit 240 may be installed in the eNB 800, and the radiocommunication interface 825 (for example, the BB processor 826) and/orthe controller 821 may execute the program. As described above, the eNB800, the base station device 820, or the module may be provided as adevice which includes the radio communication unit 210, the networkcommunication unit 220, the storage unit 230, and the control unit 240,and the program for causing the processor to function as the radiocommunication unit 210, the network communication unit 220, the storageunit 230, and the control unit 240 may be provided. In addition, areadable recording medium in which the program is recorded may beprovided.

In addition, in the eNB 800 shown in FIG. 43, the radio communicationunit 210 described with reference to FIG. 7 may be implemented by theradio communication interface 825 (for example, the RF circuit 827). Inaddition, the network communication unit 220 may be implemented by thecontroller 821 and/or the network interface 823.

(Second Application Example)

FIG. 44 is a block diagram illustrating a second example of a schematicconfiguration of an eNB to which the technology of the presentdisclosure may be applied. An eNB 830 includes one or more antennas 840,a base station device 850, and an RRH 860. Each antenna 840 and the RRH860 may be connected to each other via an RF cable. The base stationdevice 850 and the RRH 860 may be connected to each other via a highspeed line such as an optical fiber cable.

Each of the antennas 840 includes a single or multiple antenna elements(such as multiple antenna elements included in an MIMO antenna), and isused for the RRH 860 to transmit and receive radio signals. The eNB 830may include the multiple antennas 840, as illustrated in FIG. 44. Forexample, the multiple antennas 840 may be compatible with multiplefrequency bands used by the eNB 830. Although FIG. 44 illustrates theexample in which the eNB 830 includes the multiple antennas 840, the eNB830 may also include a single antenna 840.

The base station device 850 includes a controller 851, a memory 852, anetwork interface 853, a radio communication interface 855, and aconnection interface 857. The controller 851, the memory 852, and thenetwork interface 853 are the same as the controller 821, the memory822, and the network interface 823 described with reference to FIG. 43.

The radio communication interface 855 supports any cellularcommunication scheme such as LTE and LTE-Advanced, and provides radiocommunication to a terminal positioned in a sector corresponding to theRRH 860 via the RRH 860 and the antenna 840. The radio communicationinterface 855 may typically include, for example, a BB processor 856.The BB processor 856 is the same as the BB processor 826 described withreference to FIG. 43, except the BB processor 856 is connected to the RFcircuit 864 of the RRH 860 via the connection interface 857. The radiocommunication interface 855 may include the multiple BB processors 856,as illustrated in FIG. 44. For example, the multiple BB processors 856may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the eNB 830.Although FIG. 44 illustrates the example in which the radiocommunication interface 855 includes the multiple BB processors 856, theradio communication interface 855 may also include a single BB processor856.

The connection interface 857 is an interface for connecting the basestation device 850 (radio communication interface 855) to the RRH 860.The connection interface 857 may also be a communication module forcommunication in the above-described high speed line that connects thebase station device 850 (radio communication interface 855) to the RRH860.

The RRH 860 includes a connection interface 861 and a radiocommunication interface 863.

The connection interface 861 is an interface for connecting the RRH 860(radio communication interface 863) to the base station device 850. Theconnection interface 861 may also be a communication module forcommunication in the above-described high speed line.

The radio communication interface 863 transmits and receives radiosignals via the antenna 840. The radio communication interface 863 maytypically include, for example, the RF circuit 864. The RF circuit 864may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, andtransmits and receives radio signals via the antenna 840. The radiocommunication interface 863 may include multiple RF circuits 864, asillustrated in FIG. 44. For example, the multiple RF circuits 864 maysupport multiple antenna elements. Although FIG. 44 illustrates theexample in which the radio communication interface 863 includes themultiple RF circuits 864, the radio communication interface 863 may alsoinclude a single RF circuit 864.

In the eNB 830 shown in FIG. 44, the radio communication unit 210, thenetwork communication unit 220, the storage unit 230, and the controlunit 240 described with reference to FIG. 7 may be implemented by theradio communication interface 855 and/or the radio communicationinterface 863. Alternatively, at least some of these constituentelements may be implemented by the controller 851. As an example, amodule which includes a part (for example, the BB processor 856) or allof the radio communication interface 855 and/or the controller 851 maybe mounted in eNB 830, and the radio communication unit 210, the networkcommunication unit 220, the storage unit 230, and the control unit 240may be implemented by the module. In this case, the module may store aprogram for causing the processor to function as the radio communicationunit 210, the network communication unit 220, the storage unit 230, andthe control unit 240 (i.e., a program for causing the processor toexecute operations of the radio communication unit 210, the networkcommunication unit 220, the storage unit 230, and the control unit 240)and may execute the program. As another example, the program for causingthe processor to function as the radio communication unit 210, thenetwork communication unit 220, the storage unit 230, and the controlunit 240 may be installed in the eNB 830, and the radio communicationinterface 855 (for example, the BB processor 856) and/or the controller851 may execute the program. As described above, the eNB 830, the basestation device 850, or the module may be provided as a device whichincludes the radio communication unit 210, the network communicationunit 220, the storage unit 230, and the control unit 240, and theprogram for causing the processor to function as the radio communicationunit 210, the network communication unit 220, the storage unit 230, andthe control unit 240 may be provided. In addition, a readable recordingmedium in which the program is recorded may be provided.

In addition, in the eNB 830 shown in FIG. 44, the radio communicationunit 210 described, for example, with reference to FIG. 7 may beimplemented by the radio communication interface 863 (for example, theRF circuit 864). In addition, the network communication unit 220 may beimplemented by the controller 851 and/or the network interface 853.

<4.3. Application Examples Regarding Terminal Devices>

(First Application Example)

FIG. 45 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematicconfiguration of a smartphone 900 to which the technology of the presentdisclosure may be applied. The smartphone 900 includes a processor 901,a memory 902, a storage 903, an external connection interface 904, acamera 906, a sensor 907, a microphone 908, an input device 909, adisplay device 910, a speaker 911, a radio communication interface 912,one or more antenna switches 915, one or more antennas 916, a bus 917, abattery 918, and an auxiliary controller 919.

The processor 901 may be, for example, a CPU or a system on a chip(SoC), and controls functions of an application layer and another layerof the smartphone 900. The memory 902 includes RAM and ROM, and stores aprogram that is executed by the processor 901, and data. The storage 903may include a storage medium such as a semiconductor memory and a harddisk. The external connection interface 904 is an interface forconnecting an external device such as a memory card and a universalserial bus (USB) device to the smartphone 900.

The camera 906 includes an image sensor such as a charge coupled device(CCD) and a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), andgenerates a captured image. The sensor 907 may include a group ofsensors such as a measurement sensor, a gyro sensor, a geomagneticsensor, and an acceleration sensor. The microphone 908 converts soundsthat are input to the smartphone 900 to audio signals. The input device909 includes, for example, a touch sensor configured to detect touchonto a screen of the display device 910, a keypad, a keyboard, a button,or a switch, and receives an operation or an information input from auser. The display device 910 includes a screen such as a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, anddisplays an output image of the smartphone 900. The speaker 911 convertsaudio signals that are output from the smartphone 900 to sounds.

The radio communication interface 912 supports any cellularcommunication scheme such as LTE and LTE-Advanced, and performs radiocommunication. The radio communication interface 912 may typicallyinclude, for example, a BB processor 913 and an RF circuit 914. The BBprocessor 913 may perform, for example, encoding/decoding,modulating/demodulating, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and performsvarious types of signal processing for radio communication. Meanwhile,the RF circuit 914 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and anamplifier, and transmits and receives radio signals via the antenna 916.The radio communication interface 913 may also be a one chip module thathas the BB processor 913 and the RF circuit 914 integrated thereon. Theradio communication interface 912 may include the multiple BB processors913 and the multiple RF circuits 914, as illustrated in FIG. 45.Although FIG. 45 illustrates the example in which the radiocommunication interface 913 includes the multiple BB processors 913 andthe multiple RF circuits 914, the radio communication interface 912 mayalso include a single BB processor 913 or a single RF circuit 914.

Furthermore, in addition to a cellular communication scheme, the radiocommunication interface 912 may support another type of radiocommunication scheme such as a short-distance wireless communicationscheme, a near field communication scheme, and a radio local areanetwork (LAN) scheme. In that case, the radio communication interface912 may include the BB processor 913 and the RF circuit 914 for eachradio communication scheme.

Each of the antenna switches 915 switches connection destinations of theantennas 916 among multiple circuits (such as circuits for differentradio communication schemes) included in the radio communicationinterface 912.

Each of the antennas 916 includes a single or multiple antenna elements(such as multiple antenna elements included in an MIMO antenna), and isused for the radio communication interface 912 to transmit and receiveradio signals. The smartphone 900 may include the multiple antennas 916,as illustrated in FIG. 45. Although FIG. 45 illustrates the example inwhich the smartphone 900 includes the multiple antennas 916, thesmartphone 900 may also include a single antenna 916.

Furthermore, the smartphone 900 may include the antenna 916 for eachradio communication scheme. In that case, the antenna switches 915 maybe omitted from the configuration of the smartphone 900.

The bus 917 connects the processor 901, the memory 902, the storage 903,the external connection interface 904, the camera 906, the sensor 907,the microphone 908, the input device 909, the display device 910, thespeaker 911, the radio communication interface 912, and the auxiliarycontroller 919 to each other. The battery 918 supplies power to blocksof the smartphone 900 illustrated in FIG. 45 via feeder lines, which arepartially shown as dashed lines in the figure. The auxiliary controller919 operates a minimum necessary function of the smartphone 900, forexample, in a sleep mode.

In the smartphone 900 shown in FIG. 45, the radio communication unit310, the storage unit 320, and the control unit 330 described withreference to FIG. 8 may be implemented by the radio communicationinterface 912. Alternatively, at least some of these constituentelements may be implemented by the processor 901 or the auxiliarycontroller 919. As an example, a module which includes a part (forexample, the BB processor 913) or all of the radio communicationinterface 912, the processor 901 and/or the auxiliary controller 919 maybe mounted in the smartphone 900, and the radio communication unit 310,the storage unit 320, and the control unit 330 may be implemented by themodule. In this case, the module may store a program for causing theprocessor to function as the radio communication unit 310, the storageunit 320, and the control unit 330 (i.e., a program for causing theprocessor to execute operations of the radio communication unit 310, thestorage unit 320, and the control unit 330) and may execute the program.As another example, the program for causing the processor to function asthe radio communication unit 310, the storage unit 320, and the controlunit 330 may be installed in the smartphone 900, and the radiocommunication interface 912 (for example, the BB processor 913), theprocessor 901 and/or the auxiliary controller 919 may execute theprogram. As described above, the smartphone 900 or the module may beprovided as a device which includes the radio communication unit 310,the storage unit 320, and the control unit 330, and the program forcausing the processor to function as the radio communication unit 310,the storage unit 320, and the control unit 330 may be provided. Inaddition, a readable recording medium in which the program is recordedmay be provided.

In addition, in the smartphone 900 shown in FIG. 45, the radiocommunication unit 310 described, for example, with reference to FIG. 8may be implemented by the radio communication interface 912 (forexample, the RF circuit 914).

(Second Application Example)

FIG. 46 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematicconfiguration of a car navigation device 920 to which the technology ofthe present disclosure may be applied. The car navigation device 920includes a processor 921, a memory 922, a global positioning system(GPS) module 924, a sensor 925, a data interface 926, a content player927, a storage medium interface 928, an input device 929, a displaydevice 930, a speaker 931, a radio communication interface 933, one ormore antenna switches 936, one or more antennas 937, and a battery 938.

The processor 921 may be, for example, a CPU or a SoC, and controls anavigation function and another function of the car navigation device920. The memory 922 includes RAM and ROM, and stores a program that isexecuted by the processor 921, and data.

The GPS module 924 uses GPS signals received from a GPS satellite tomeasure a position (such as latitude, longitude, and altitude) of thecar navigation device 920. The sensor 925 may include a group of sensorssuch as a gyro sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an air pressure sensor.The data interface 926 is connected to, for example, an in-vehiclenetwork 941 via a terminal that is not shown, and acquires datagenerated by the vehicle, such as vehicle speed data.

The content player 927 reproduces content stored in a storage medium(such as a CD and a DVD) that is inserted into the storage mediuminterface 928. The input device 929 includes, for example, a touchsensor configured to detect touch onto a screen of the display device930, a button, or a switch, and receives an operation or an informationinput from a user. The display device 930 includes a screen such as aLCD or an OLED display, and displays an image of the navigation functionor content that is reproduced. The speaker 931 outputs sounds of thenavigation function or the content that is reproduced.

The radio communication interface 933 supports any cellularcommunication scheme such as LET and LTE-Advanced, and performs radiocommunication. The radio communication interface 933 may typicallyinclude, for example, a BB processor 934 and an RF circuit 935. The BBprocessor 934 may perform, for example, encoding/decoding,modulating/demodulating, and multiplexing/demultiplexing, and performsvarious types of signal processing for radio communication. Meanwhile,the RF circuit 935 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and anamplifier, and transmits and receives radio signals via the antenna 937.The radio communication interface 933 may be a one chip module havingthe BB processor 934 and the RF circuit 935 integrated thereon. Theradio communication interface 933 may include the multiple BB processors934 and the multiple RF circuits 935, as illustrated in FIG. 46.Although FIG. 46 illustrates the example in which the radiocommunication interface 933 includes the multiple BB processors 934 andthe multiple RF circuits 935, the radio communication interface 933 mayalso include a single BB processor 934 or a single RF circuit 935.

Furthermore, in addition to a cellular communication scheme, the radiocommunication interface 933 may support another type of radiocommunication scheme such as a short-distance wireless communicationscheme, a near field communication scheme, and a radio LAN scheme. Inthat case, the radio communication interface 933 may include the BBprocessor 934 and the RF circuit 935 for each radio communicationscheme.

Each of the antenna switches 936 switches connection destinations of theantennas 937 among multiple circuits (such as circuits for differentradio communication schemes) included in the radio communicationinterface 933.

Each of the antennas 937 includes a single or multiple antenna elements(such as multiple antenna elements included in an MIMO antenna), and isused for the radio communication interface 933 to transmit and receiveradio signals. The car navigation device 920 may include the multipleantennas 937, as illustrated in FIG. 46. Although FIG. 46 illustratesthe example in which the car navigation device 920 includes the multipleantennas 937, the car navigation device 920 may also include a singleantenna 937.

Furthermore, the car navigation device 920 may include the antenna 937for each radio communication scheme. In that case, the antenna switches936 may be omitted from the configuration of the car navigation device920.

The battery 938 supplies power to blocks of the car navigation device920 illustrated in FIG. T46 via feeder lines that are partially shown asdashed lines in the figure. The battery 938 accumulates power suppliedform the vehicle.

In the car navigation device 920 shown in FIG. 46, the radiocommunication unit 310, the storage unit 320, and the control unit 330described with reference to FIG. 8 may be implemented by the radiocommunication interface 933. Alternatively, at least some of theseconstituent elements may be implemented by the processor 921. As anexample, a module which includes a part (for example, the BB processor934) or all of the radio communication interface 933 and/or thecontroller 921 may be mounted in the car navigation device 920, and theradio communication unit 310, the storage unit 320, and the control unit330 may be implemented by the module. In this case, the module may storea program for causing the processor to function as the radiocommunication unit 310, the storage unit 320, and the control unit 330(i.e., a program for causing the processor to execute operations of theradio communication unit 310, the storage unit 320, and the control unit330) and may execute the program. As another example, the program forcausing the processor to function as the radio communication unit 310,the storage unit 320, and the control unit 330 may be installed in thecar navigation device 920, and the radio communication interface 933(for example, the BB processor 934) and/or the controller 921 mayexecute the program. As described above, the car navigation device 920or the module may be provided as a device which includes the radiocommunication unit 310, the storage unit 320, and the control unit 330,and the program for causing the processor to function as the radiocommunication unit 310, the storage unit 320, and the control unit 330may be provided. In addition, a readable recording medium in which theprogram is recorded may be provided.

In addition, in the car navigation device 920 shown in FIG. 46, theradio communication unit 310 described, for example, with reference toFIG. 8 may be implemented by the radio communication interface 933 (forexample, the RF circuit 935).

The technology of the present disclosure may also be realized as anin-vehicle system (or a vehicle) 940 including one or more blocks of thecar navigation device 920, the in-vehicle network 941, and a vehiclemodule 942. In other words, the in-vehicle system (or a vehicle) 940 maybe provided as a device which includes the radio communication unit 310,the storage unit 320, and the control unit 330. The vehicle module 942generates vehicle data such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and troubleinformation, and outputs the generated data to the in-vehicle network941.

5. Conclusion

Details of the embodiments of the present disclosure have been describedabove in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 46. As described above, thecommunication control device 100 communicates with the base station 200or the terminal device 300 of the radio communication system 1 in whichcommunication is possible using a plurality of access schemes includingat least one of the access schemes of a multiple access scheme that usesorthogonal resources and a multiple access scheme that usesnon-orthogonal resources, and allocates resources relating to an accessscheme that the base station 200 or the terminal device 300 uses.Through control by the communication control device 100, the basestation 200 and the terminal device 300 can perform communicationselectively using orthogonal resources and non-orthogonal resources.Accordingly, a high user throughput and area throughput can be achievedeven in an environment of an RAT that only uses a single non-orthogonalresource in which there is a restriction due to a circumstance such asradio propagation, a position of a user, or the like.

In addition, the communication control device 100 may allocate an accessscheme that the base station 200 or the terminal device 300 uses.Accordingly, the base station 200 and the terminal device 300 canperform communication more flexibly.

In addition, the communication control device 100 may receive capabilityinformation from the base station 200 or the terminal device 300.Accordingly, the communication control device 100 can perform allocationaccording to the capability information.

In addition, the communication control device 100 may transfercapability information from the base station 200 or the terminal device300 to another device. Accordingly, the entire communication system 1can share capability information of each device.

In addition, the communication control device 100 may use capabilityinformation from the base station 200 and the terminal device 300 in theprocedure of handover of the terminal device 300 and the procedure ofadmission control. At this time, the communication control device 100may further use capability information of the base station 200 servingas a handover destination candidate with respect to the terminal device300. Accordingly, the communication control device 100 can realizehandover according to a result of allocation of an access schemeaccording to the capability information.

In addition, the communication control device 100 may transmit a messageindicating a change in allocation of an access setting to the basestation 200 or the terminal device 300. In addition, the communicationcontrol device 100 may perform second allocation of an access schemeaccording to passage of time. Accordingly, the communication controldevice 100 can freely change an access setting used by base station 200or the terminal device 300.

In addition, as described above, the terminal device 300 performs radiocommunication according to an access setting allocated by thecommunication control device 100 which includes at least one of theaccess schemes of a multiple access scheme that uses orthogonalresources and a multiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonalresources. Accordingly, the terminal device 300 can performcommunication with the base station 200 selectively using orthogonalresources and non-orthogonal resources.

In addition, the terminal device 300 may transmit capability informationwhich includes at least any of information indicating compatibility withnon-orthogonal resources and information indicating compatibility withorthogonal resources to the communication control device 100 via thebase station 200. Accordingly, the communication control device 100 canallocate an access scheme and resources with which the terminal device300 is compatible.

In addition, the terminal device 300 may transmit capability informationin the procedure of random access or the procedure of RRC connection.Accordingly, the terminal device 300 can reduce overhead taken intransmission of capability information.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

Note that it is not necessary for the processing described in thisspecification with reference to the flowchart to be executed in theorder shown in the flowchart. Some processing steps may be performed inparallel. Further, some of additional steps can be adopted, or someprocessing steps can be omitted.

In addition, the effects described in the present specification aremerely illustrative and demonstrative, and not limitative. In otherwords, the technology according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure can exhibit other effects that are evident to those skilledin the art along with or instead of the effects based on the presentspecification.

Additionally, the present technology may also be configured as below.

(1)

A communication control device including:

a communication unit configured to perform communication with a radiocommunication device of a radio communication system in whichcommunication is possible using a plurality of access schemes includingat least one of the access schemes of a multiple access scheme that usesorthogonal resources and a multiple access scheme that usesnon-orthogonal resources; and

a control unit configured to perform allocation of resources relating tothe access schemes to be used by the radio communication device.

(2)

The communication control device according to (1), wherein the controlunit performs allocation of the access schemes to be used by the radiocommunication device.

(3)

The communication control device according to (1) or (2), whereininformation regarding the orthogonal resources and the non-orthogonalresources to be allocated to the radio communication device is includedin control channels that are the same or different from each other.

(4)

The communication control device according to (3), wherein the controlchannels different from each other have at least either different timesor different frequencies, and have a predetermined relation with datachannels.

(5)

The communication control device according to (4), wherein levels orunit densities of electric power allocated to transmission of therespective control channels and the respective data channels have apredetermined magnitude relation.

(6)

The communication control device according to (5), wherein the level orthe unit density of electric power allocated to transmission of thecontrol channel which includes information regarding the orthogonalresources is equal to or higher than the level or the unit density ofelectric power allocated to transmission of the data channel.

(7)

The communication control device according to (5) or (6), wherein thelevel or the unit density of electric power allocated to transmission ofthe control channel which includes information regarding the orthogonalresources is equal to or higher than a level or a unit density ofelectric power allocated to transmission of the control channel whichincludes information regarding the non-orthogonal resources.

(8)

The communication control device according to any one of (1) to (7),wherein the communication unit receives capability information from theradio communication device.

(9)

The communication control device according to (8), wherein thecommunication unit receives the capability information in a procedure ofrandom access or a procedure of RRC connection.

(10)

The communication control device according to (8) or (9), wherein thecommunication unit transfers the capability information of the radiocommunication device to another device.

(11)

The communication control device according to any one of (8) to (10),wherein the control unit uses the capability information of the radiocommunication device in a procedure of handover of the radiocommunication device or a procedure of admission control.

(12)

The communication control device according to (11), wherein the controlunit further uses the capability information of a base station servingas a handover destination candidate with respect to the radiocommunication device.

(13)

The communication control device according to any one of (8) to (12),wherein the capability information includes a bit flag indicatingwhether or not a device is compatible with each of the orthogonalresources and the non-orthogonal resources.

(14)

The communication control device according to any one of (1) to (13),wherein the communication unit transmits a message indicating a changein allocation to the radio communication device.

(15)

The communication control device according to (14), wherein thecommunication unit receives a message indicating a result of changepossibility determination with respect to the radio communication deviceaccording to the message indicating a change in allocation.

(16)

The communication control device according to (15), wherein the controlunit determines a possibility of handover according to the result of thechange possibility determination.

(17)

The communication control device according to any one of (1) to (16),wherein the communication unit transmits information indicating a resultof allocation by the control unit to the radio communication device.

(18)

The communication control device according to any one of (1) to (17),wherein the control unit allocates the different or shared resources tothe one or more radio communication devices.

(19)

The communication control device according to any one of (1) to (18),wherein the control unit allocates the shared resources to the one ormore other radio communication devices which access one or more cellsformed by the radio communication device.

(20)

The communication control device according to any one of (1) to (19),wherein the control unit performs second allocation of the resourcesaccording to passage of time.

(21)

The communication control device according to any one of (1) to (20),wherein the resources include at least one of a space area, an electricpower area, an interleaver area, a data rate area, and a sparse codearea.

(22)

A radio communication device including:

a radio communication unit configured to perform radio communicationusing one or more access schemes of at least either a multiple accessscheme that uses orthogonal resources or a multiple access scheme thatuses non-orthogonal resources; and

a control unit configured to control the radio communication unit toperform radio communication using allocated resources for the accessschemes to be used by the radio communication unit.

(23)

The radio communication device according to (22), wherein the radiocommunication unit transmits capability information of the radiocommunication device.

(24)

The radio communication device according to (23), wherein the capabilityinformation includes information indicating compatibility with thenon-orthogonal resources.

(25)

The radio communication device according to (23) or (24), wherein thecapability information includes information indicating compatibilitywith the orthogonal resources.

(26)

The radio communication device according to any one of (23) to (25),wherein the radio communication unit transmits the capabilityinformation in a procedure of random access or a procedure of RRCconnection.

(27)

The radio communication device according to any one of (22) to (26),wherein the resources include at least one of a space area, an electricpower area, an interleaver area, a data rate area, and a sparse codearea.

(28)

The radio communication device according to any one of (22) to (27),wherein the radio communication unit transmits information indicatingdemanded communication quality.

(29)

The radio communication device according to any one of (22) to (28),wherein the control unit controls the radio communication unit toreceive a data channel using the allocated resources.

(30)

The radio communication device according to any one of (22) to (29),wherein the control unit controls the radio communication unit totransmit a data channel or a control channel using the allocatedresources.

(31)

A communication control method including:

performing communication with a radio communication device of a radiocommunication system in which communication is possible using aplurality of access schemes including at least one of the access schemesof a multiple access scheme that uses orthogonal resources and amultiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonal resources; and

performing allocation of resources relating to the access schemes to beused by the radio communication device with a processor.

(32)

The communication control method according to (31), wherein theperforming allocation of the resources includes performing allocation ofthe access schemes to be used by the radio communication device.

(33)

The communication control method according to (31) or (32), whereininformation regarding the orthogonal resources and the non-orthogonalresources to be allocated to the radio communication device is includedin control channels that are the same or different from each other.

(34)

The communication control method according to (33), wherein the controlchannels different from each other have at least either different timesor different frequencies, and have a predetermined relation with datachannels.

(35)

The communication control method according to (34), wherein levels orunit densities of electric power allocated to transmission of therespective control channels and the respective data channels have apredetermined magnitude relation.

(36)

The communication control method according to (35), wherein the level orthe unit density of electric power allocated to transmission of thecontrol channel which includes information regarding the orthogonalresources is equal to or higher than the level or the unit density ofelectric power allocated to transmission of the data channel.

(37)

The communication control method according to (36), wherein the level orthe unit density of electric power allocated to transmission of thecontrol channel which includes information regarding the orthogonalresources is equal to or higher than the level or the unit density ofelectric power allocated to transmission of the control channel whichincludes information regarding the non-orthogonal resources.

(38)

A radio communication method including:

performing radio communication using one or more access schemes of atleast either a multiple access scheme that uses orthogonal resources ora multiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonal resources; and

controlling, with a processor, the radio communication to be performedusing allocated resources for the access schemes to be used during theradio communication.

(39)

The radio communication method according to (38), wherein the performingthe radio communication includes transmitting capability information.

(40)

The radio communication method according to (39), wherein the capabilityinformation includes information indicating compatibility with thenon-orthogonal resources.

(41)

The radio communication method according to (39) or (40), wherein thecapability information includes information indicating compatibilitywith the orthogonal resources.

(42)

The radio communication method according to any one of (39) to (41),wherein the performing the radio communication includes transmitting thecapability information in a procedure of random access or a procedure ofRRC connection.

(43)

The radio communication method according to any one of (39) to (42),wherein the resources include at least one of a space area, an electricpower area, an interleaver area, a data rate area, and a sparse codearea.

(44)

A program for causing a computer to function as:

a communication unit configured to perform communication with a radiocommunication device of a radio communication system in whichcommunication is possible using a plurality of access schemes includingat least one of the access schemes of a multiple access scheme that usesorthogonal resources and a multiple access scheme that usesnon-orthogonal resources; and

a control unit configured to perform allocation of resources relating tothe access schemes to be used by the radio communication device.

(45)

A program for causing a computer to function as:

a radio communication unit configured to perform radio communicationusing one or more access schemes of at least either a multiple accessscheme that uses orthogonal resources or a multiple access scheme thatuses non-orthogonal resources; and

a control unit configured to control the radio communication unit toperform radio communication using allocated resources for the accessschemes to be used by the radio communication unit

(46)

A control device comprising circuitry configured to

communicate with a radio communication device of a radio communicationsystem equipped to use a plurality of alternative access schemes, theplurality of alternative access schemes including at least one of amultiple access scheme that uses orthogonal resources and a multipleaccess scheme that uses non-orthogonal resources, and allocate resourcesaccording to a selected access scheme of the plurality of alternativeaccess schemes.

(47)

The control device according to (46), wherein the control unit specifieswhich of the plurality of alternative access schemes the radiocommunication device is to use.

(48)

The control device according to (46), wherein the circuitry is furtherconfigured to include one or more control channels information regardingthe orthogonal resources and the non-orthogonal resources to beallocated to the radio communication device.

(49)

The control device according to (48), wherein the one or more controlchannels include at least two different control channels with at leastdifferent times and/or different frequencies, and having differentpredetermined respective relationships with data channels.

(50)

The control device according to (49), wherein levels or unit densitiesof electric power allocated to transmission of the at least twodifferent control channels and corresponding data channels have apredetermined magnitude relation.

(51)

The control device according to (50), wherein a level or unit density ofelectric power allocated to transmission a control channel of the twodifferent control channels which includes information regarding theorthogonal resources is equal to or higher than a level or unit densityof electric power allocated to transmission of a corresponding datachannel.

(52)

The control device according to (50), wherein the level or the unitdensity of electric power allocated to transmission of a control channelof the two different control channels which includes informationregarding the orthogonal resources is equal to or higher than a level ora unit density of electric power allocated to transmission of a controlchannel of the two different control channels which includes informationregarding the non-orthogonal resources.

(53)

The control device according to (46), wherein the circuitry isconfigured to receive capability information from the radiocommunication device.

(54)

The control device according to (53), wherein the circuitry isconfigured to receive the capability information in a random accessprotocol scheme or a RRC connection scheme.

(55)

The control device according to (53), wherein the circuitry isconfigured to transfer the capability information of the radiocommunication device to another device.

(56)

The control device according to (53), wherein the circuitry isconfigured to use the capability information of the radio communicationdevice in a handover procedure of the radio communication device oradmission control procedure.

(57)

The control device according to (56), wherein the circuitry is furtherconfigured to use the capability information of a base station servingas a handover destination candidate with respect to the radiocommunication device.

(58)

The control device according to (53), wherein the capability informationincludes a bit flag indicating whether or not a device is compatiblewith each of the orthogonal resources and the non-orthogonal resources.

(59)

The control device according to (46), wherein the circuitry isconfigured to transmit a message indicating a change in allocation tothe radio communication device.

(60)

The control device according to (59), wherein the communication unitreceives a message indicating a result of change possibilitydetermination with respect to the radio communication device accordingto the message indicating a change in allocation.

(61)

The control device according to (60), wherein the circuitry isconfigured to determine a handover possibility according to the resultof the change possibility determination.

(62)

The control device according to (46), wherein the circuitry isconfigured to transmit information indicating an allocation result bythe circuitry to the radio communication device.

(63)

The control device according to (46), wherein the circuitry isconfigured to allocate different or shared resources to one or moreradio communication devices.

(64)

A radio communication device comprising circuitry configured to performradio communications using a plurality of alternative access schemes,the plurality of alternative access schemes including at least one of amultiple access scheme that uses orthogonal resources and a multipleaccess scheme that uses non-orthogonal resources, and

control a radio communication unit to perform radio communication usingallocated resources for the access schemes selected for use by the radiocommunication unit.

(65)

A communication control method comprising using circuitry to performcommunications with a radio communication device of a radiocommunication system equipped to use a plurality of alternate accessschemes, the plurality of alternate access schemes including at leastone of a multiple access scheme that uses orthogonal resources and amultiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonal resources; andallocating with the circuitry resources according to a selected accessscheme of the plurality of alternative access schemes.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   -   1 communication system    -   10 application server    -   11 service platform    -   12 network gateway    -   13 device    -   14 IP network    -   15 core network    -   16 network manager    -   100 communication control device    -   110 communication unit    -   120 storage unit    -   130 control unit    -   200 base station    -   210 radio communication unit    -   220 network communication unit    -   230 storage unit    -   240 control unit    -   300 terminal device    -   310 radio communication unit    -   320 storage unit    -   330 control unit

The invention claimed is:
 1. A control device, comprising: circuitryconfigured to communicate with a radio communication device of a radiocommunication system equipped to use a plurality of alternative accessschemes, the plurality of alternative access schemes including at leastone of a first multiple access scheme that uses orthogonal resources anda second multiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonal resources;allocate resources according to a selected access scheme of theplurality of alternative access schemes, wherein a first information anda second information are provided to the radio communication device inone control channel, the first information regarding the orthogonalresources and the second information regarding the non-orthogonalresources; and transmit information regarding non-orthogonal multipleaccess prior to information regarding orthogonal multiple access.
 2. Thecontrol device according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configuredto specify which of the plurality of alternative access schemes theradio communication device is to select.
 3. The control device accordingto claim 2, wherein levels or unit densities of electric power allocatedto transmission of the control channel and respective data channels havea predetermined magnitude relation.
 4. The control device according toclaim 3, wherein the level or the unit density of electric powerallocated to transmission of the control channel includes the firstinformation regarding the orthogonal resources being equal to or higherthan a level or a unit density of electric power allocated totransmission of the second information regarding the non-orthogonalresources.
 5. The control device according to claim 1, wherein thecircuitry is configured to receive capability information from the radiocommunication device.
 6. The control device according to claim 5,wherein the circuitry is configured to receive the capabilityinformation via a random access protocol scheme or a RRC connectionscheme.
 7. The control device according to claim 5, wherein thecircuitry is configured to transfer the capability information of theradio communication device to another device.
 8. The control deviceaccording to claim 5, wherein the circuitry is configured to use thecapability information of the radio communication device in a handoverprocedure of the radio communication device or admission controlprocedure.
 9. The control device according to claim 8, wherein thecircuitry is further configured to use the capability information of abase station serving as a handover destination candidate with respect tothe radio communication device.
 10. The control device according toclaim 5, wherein the capability information includes a bit flagindicating whether or not a device is compatible with each of theorthogonal resources and the non-orthogonal resources.
 11. The controldevice according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured totransmit a message indicating a change in allocation to the radiocommunication device.
 12. The control device according to claim 11,wherein the circuitry is configured to receive a message indicating aresult of change possibility determination with respect to the radiocommunication device according to the message indicating a change inallocation.
 13. The control device according to claim 12, wherein thecircuitry is configured to determine a handover possibility according tothe result of the change possibility determination.
 14. The controldevice according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured totransmit information indicating an allocation result by the circuitry tothe radio communication device.
 15. The control device according toclaim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to allocate different orshared resources to one or more radio communication devices.
 16. Thecontrol device according to claim 1, wherein the first informationindicates frequency resources or time resources of the first multipleaccess scheme, and the second information indicates a power level or aninterleave of the second multiple access scheme.
 17. A radiocommunication device, comprising: circuitry configured to communicatewith a control device of a radio communication system equipped toallocate resources of a plurality of alternative access schemes, theplurality of alternative access schemes including at least one of afirst multiple access scheme that uses orthogonal resources and a secondmultiple access scheme that uses non-orthogonal resources; receive afirst information and a second information in one control channel, thefirst information regarding the orthogonal resources and the secondinformation regarding the non-orthogonal resources, wherein informationregarding non-orthogonal multiple access was transmitted by the controldevice prior to information regarding orthogonal multiple access; andperform radio communications using a selected access scheme of theplurality of alternative access schemes, wherein the first informationindicates frequency resources or time resources of the first multipleaccess scheme, and the second information indicates a power level or aninterleave of the second multiple access scheme.
 18. A communicationcontrol method, comprising: communicating, by circuitry of a controldevice, with a radio communication device equipped to use a plurality ofalternate access schemes, the plurality of alternate access schemesincluding at least one of a first multiple access scheme that usesorthogonal resources and a second multiple access scheme that usesnon-orthogonal resources; allocating resources, by the circuitry,according to a selected access scheme of the plurality of alternativeaccess schemes, wherein a first information and a second information areprovided to the radio communication device in one control channel, thefirst information regarding the orthogonal resources and the secondinformation regarding the non-orthogonal resources; and transmittinginformation regarding non-orthogonal multiple access prior toinformation regarding orthogonal multiple access.